Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4842 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-23
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A film about society's attitude to sexuality, with a lighthearted dig at political correctness gone mad, The Closet is French farce in the tradition of Moliere: a man pretends to be something he's not, people begin treating him differently, his lie escalates out of all proportion, and comedy ensues. Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) is a dull, divorced accountant in a French rubber-processing factory whose primary product is condoms. The morning of the company photograph he overhears he is going to be fired. After half-heartedly trying to kill himself, he meets his new next-door neighbour who suggests a plot that will keep him from losing his job: he should pretend he's gay, and the neighbour will doctor the photographs and send them to his boss to prove it.

The comedy springs from people's reactions to Pignon's alleged homosexuality. The managing director puts him on a Gay Pride parade float with a condom on his head, his estranged son suddenly thinks he's cool, his female boss catches on to the scam and begins to think that Pignon is not as banal as she first thought, and the homophobic, macho personnel director--a great performance from Gerard Depardieu--discovers his sensitive side. It's well directed by Francis Veber (writer of the original Three Fugitives), who moves the gentle action along masterfully, providing some laugh-out-loud moments and getting some great performances from his ensemble cast. Overall, it's an uplifting comedy about prejudice and how a Mr Nobody becomes a somebody. --Kristen Bowditch

Special Features
French
Region 2
Theatrical Trailer
Cast And Crew Biographies
Optimum Trailer Reel
English

Synopsis
In this witty commentary on political correctness in the work place, Francois Veber directs the excellent Daniel Auteuil as Francois Pignon, better known around the office as 'Pignon le Mignon' (Pignon the Cutey). Poor Pignon is helplessly misunderstood and pathetically down on his luck. A senior executive at a small corporation, Pignon overhears rumors that he is going to be fired. On top of a difficult relationship with his ex-wife and a failing relationship with his sullen teenage son, the idea of losing his job and becoming incapable of making alimony payments is unfathomable. Pignon feels totally defeated--like a real loser. That's why, when Pignon's next door neighbor (Michel Aumont) offers a solution to his problems, Pignon is quick to accept: He comes out of the closet, convincing his coworkers that he is gay, and making it improbable that the company would fire him at risk of legal action. But before he knows it, Pignon's plan has backfired and metamorphosed in hilarious ways, causing a string of bizarre office-related situations and family dilemmas that are both complex and comic.

Customer Reviews

A mouse of a man saves his job by pretending that he is gay
As you might guess from the title, "The Closet" ("La Placard") is a comedy about, as the trailer says, a man who comes out of a closet he was never in in the first place. This 2001 French comedy comes from writer-director Francis Veber, best known previously for writing the screenplay for the classic gay farce "La Cage aux folles." In many regards "The Closet" is a fitting counterpart to that earlier film.

François Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) is a nothing of a man who learns through the office grapevine that he is about to be fired from his job in the accounting department of a condom company. Since his wife divorced him and his son will have nothing to do with him, this could well be the last straw. But he encounters a new neighbor, Belone (Michel Aumont), who comes up with a plan. They will doctor somephotographs to make it look like Pignon is gay and make the company think twice about firing him and suffering from bad publicity. This ploy works although Pignon does NOTHING different at work; apparently everybody sees exactly what they expect to see when they look at him, even if they now expect something completely different. Meanwhile, Félix Santini (Gérard Depardieu) is warned that he will have to be nice to the gay guy and stop making intolerant comments or his job will be on the line. Of course, everybody starts treating the "new" Pignon quite differently from the old, which has both good and bad consequences for our hero. However, Mlle Bertrand (Michèle Laroque) becomes suspicious about the photographs and everything that is happening.

Earlier this week I had watched "Unfaithful," another in a long line of Hollywood remakes of French films and I found myself thinking about whether "The Closet" might be Americanized at some future date. Although this happened with "La Cage aux folles" I tend to think this film will avoid that fate. There is a subtlety to the humor here that would be lost in translation if the film were redone. I particularly fear that the darker side of this film, would not be able to avoid darker manifestations of hate and violence in an American version. You will just have to live with sitting down and watching this film in French and reading the subtitles. Besides, if you saw and liked "La Cage aux folles" then you should enjoy what Veber has come up with this time around.

C'est bon!
Light-hearted, not politically correct, somehow old-fashioned - but this will leave you with a smile on your face. Fantastic acting as always from Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu. The ending is predictable (ok, the whole story line is), but this is one of those films that only the French can pull off.

Un film Français par excellence
A great fan of French cinema, I never thought that a modern French film could be so funny, having experienced the farce that was Absolument fabuleux (the French version of the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous). Featuring various accomplished actors including Gérard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil), The Closet (aka Le Placard) was an absolutely hilarious film, even for those who only understand the subtitles (like myself)!

In a nutshell, this smart and cleverly-made film follows François Pignon (Auteuil), a boring 'Dilbert'-type accountant who, with the help of a new next door neighbour, pretends that he is gay in order to save his job, and the following effects on his bewildered colleagues (especially the homophobic rugby player Félix Santini), his ex-wife and estranged son. The main setting of a (very hi-tech looking) rubber factory and the dominating physique of Depardieu provides some hysterical moments. Indeed, fans of Depardieu will probably appreciate this his most enjoyable role since that of the romantic comedy Green Card, without dampening his achievements in more 'serious' movies.

The film uses various stereotypes (though none I would believe anyone would find offensive and avoiding the traditional 'camp' comedy) digging into the craziness of bureaucracy related to philosophies of politically-correctness within organizations and society. With reference to this, highlights include Pignon

The DVD includes trailers and cast and crew biographies, enough for a superb, first-class film which is worth buying just for itself alone. C'est magnifique!