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My Best Friend is a really wonderful, rare film. It is rare because it portrays, in a way that is both persistently funny and unflinchingly earnest, one of the most under-represented but universal human neuroses: the desire for friendship or platonic love. In The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis describes it as philia: the type of "friendship" love that is different than—through just as meaningful and important as—the love between a husband and wife. In romantic love (eros), Lewis writes, two humans look face to face, absorbed in one another. Friends, on the other hand, stand side by side—looking out together, absorbed by some shared interest, or at some beauty or wonder that is best experienced with another person.

Bruno (Dany Boon) is the alleged 'best friend'

It is fitting, then, that the final shot of Friend finds Francois and Bruno standing side by side on a bridge in Paris, looking out over some lovely scene. What each has come to realize is that it is not what one can get out of a friend that makes friendship so great; it's how much greater life looks when you have another person to share it with.

As Buber writes, "When a culture is no longer centered in a living and continually renewed relational process, it freezes into the It-world which is broken only intermittently by the eruptive, glowing deeds of solitary spirits."

Films like My Best Friend joyfully remind us of how essential relationships are. They remind us that God created us to be more than "It" objects to populate an isolated world. Instead, he gave us love and friendship as precious means to glimpse—however faintly—what it is to commune with the Holy.

Talk About It

1. Can you relate to Francois's tendency to accumulate many "contacts" and "acquaintances," rather than forming deep and unconditional relationships?
2. At one funny moment in the film, Francois looks up and sees a sign that says "Jesus is your friend," but finds no comfort there. Why do you think this is such an empty phrase, and how can "Jesus is your friend" be better articulated?
3. Much of the film's focus is on Francois trying to win his bet, but Bruno has a lot at stake as well. What do you think draws Bruno to Francois? And how is his search for a friend different or similar to that of Francois?

The Family Corner

My Best Friend is rated PG-13 for some strong language, but feels like it could almost be PG. There are a few expletives (in French with English subtitles), but they are fairly infrequent. One female character is revealed to be a lesbian, and there is a scene of her in bed with another woman (fully clothed, sitting up and talking on a telephone). Other than that, the content is pretty clean. It is a very funny and almost effervescent film, keeping the audience smiling throughout. It's appropriate for many families with older children—if the kids can handle a foreign film with subtitles.

Photos © Copyright IFC Films

© Brett McCracken subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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