Cheap The Closet (DVD) (Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu) (Francis Veber) Price

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Daniel Auteuil is M. Pignon, who has been working for a condom factory as an accountant for 20 years, now he happens to learn that he is going to be fired. Shocked by the news, he thinks of jumping from the window to kill himself when an old man living in the next room gives a tip; "pretend you're gay." For political reasons (and commercial ones too) the company cannot fire him as they are afraid of being accused of having discriminating attitudes. It succeeds, and M. Pignon is happy ... for a while.

Because unexpected things happen like chain reaction; "sexual harrassment" from his beautiful female boss (she has her own reason), sexual advance from his co-worker and rugby coach (he has his own reason, too), and so on. The story goes on with twists and turns, finally leading to the confidence newly established in M. Pignon.

Though the ending is not as good as it should be, and some parts are a bit incredible, the cast is so great that those flaws are all ignored in the end. Daniel Auteuil's dead-pan humor is always effective, and funniest is his face when he is in a parade wearing a huge tip of condom on his head. Also humorous is Gerard Depardieu, whose character experiences a total transformation.

"The Closet" has some satire on our attitude about sexuality, but it doesn't preach them. Rather, the film handles them with a lighter tough, which avoids the pitfall of being too gloomy or philosophical. The fact is, the film is too light for some; and clearly the director hesitates to push some interesting points the film presents. But "The Closet" should be about M. Pignon, who, just like the protagonist of the same name in "The Dinner Game," is about Mr. Everyman. His journey to a new life is what we see, and we enjoy watching. As such the film succeeds, and it is because of fantastic Daniel Auteuil.

Une Farce par excellence!
"Le Placard" (The Closet), from the creators of the highly acclaimed "Dinner Game", is a perfect balance of high farce and social voyeurism delivered with true Gallic pathos. Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu are perfectly cast in this terrifically funny look into the change in the life of a boring man who becomes the office celebrity after "coming out". The film starts with Francois Pignon (Auteuil) facing dismissal from his job. His workmates, his estranged wife and son all ignore him and he is on the verge of ending it all when a new neighbor (Michel Aumont) fortuitously arrives on the scene and tries to save Pignon. He hatches a plan to "expose" the straight Pignon to his workmates in order to engender sympathy and put fear into the minds of those who would fire him. Depardieu is brilliant as the homophobic personnel manager, Santini, who finds himself having to bow and scrape to the now- highly-esteemed Pignon. Unbeknownst to Santini, he has been set up. The office rumour mill is in overdrive and one cannot help but observe the obvious social references of this beautifully constructed little gem. I got more belly laughs from this film than any I've seen in years and whilst it's not exactly Ibsen, it belongs on any "must see" list.

There's good and bad
The performances are excellent, especially Depardieu. There are some genbuine laughs, but as someone else pointed out, it is a one-joke film, and there are parts where it gets out of hand, or tedious or unbelievable. See it, but buy it cheap or rent it.