One of the first moments of this movie makes inevitably think of "Shining" (1980) by Stanley Kubrick and "Funny Games" (1997) by Michael Haneke: an aerial shot which follows a car on the highway. Inside it, a typical French family who goes on holiday in their country house hoping to find some peace. It's particularly true for the parents, Michel and his wife who seem to be all keyed up because of their restless children. On a rest area, Michel meets an old school friend: Harry who proposes Michel to come and spend a couple of days to his country house. The latter accepts. From the beginning, Harry appears as a charismatic and mysterious character. Who is he? Where does he come from? What does he want? We learn very few things about him or just vague facts. The director Dominik Voll preferred to leave high and dry Harry's origins and it's better this way because the spectator can imagine whatever he wants about him. Be that as it may, we can bring a beginning of answer to the third quoted question: Harry wishes Michel well and he's ready to do anything for this, even to kill...

After a six-year absence (his last movie was "intimacy" in 1994),Dominik Voll made a successful comeback with "With a Friend like Harry" (2000). He seduced both the critics and the public and won 4 French Oscars in 2001 including Best Actor for Sergi Lopez. It's funny to note down that the basic idea for his second feature-length film came to him from a holiday memory when, just like Michel he met an old school friend which he hadn't seen for years. This trivial detail inspired him to focus his movie on the theme of the double. Besides, the first apparition of the two main protagonists happens in front of a mirror. Harry can be considered the incarnation of Michel's repressed drives and buried desires. In a way, he's what Michel would like to be or to do (consciously or not). I think there are numerous examples in Voll's opus and I will retain the three following points: Harry enjoys a perfect sexual life (eating a raw egg after an orgasm is good for health!) and perhaps Michel would like to know something similar to this. Then, Harry kills Michel's parents and every time the latter invites them for lunch or dinner, he has to fetch them: his father can't drive for medical reasons. Perhaps, Michel has hidden death wishes about his parents. At last, by congratulating Michel about the writings he made in high school, Harry probably wakes in Michel hidden desires of writer. Roughly, Harry wants to help his friend to advance in life, no matter what the price is.

"With a friend like Harry" is Voll's second film in six years but his making is absolutely awesome. If the beginning of the movie turns out to be a little trite:how many times in cinema have we seen the trick of the helpful character invading a so far peaceful universe? But fortunately, once this moment passed, the rest makes forget this weakness. The movie adopts a slow rhythm without hastes and opts for the unexpected to play with the spectator's nerves. Dominik Voll weaves a more and more heavy even stifling atmosphere marked out by Michel's psychological changing who seems to become a little unrecognizable to his wife. Besides, she tells to Harry: "you've got a bad influence on Michel". This heavy atmosphere is reinforced by a precise and rigorous making which favors close-up shots and the length of quite numerous sequences. Overrall the director achieved a tour de force by mixing several cinema genres in a coherent story. What is close to comedy in the beginning of the story ends up turning to drama and thriller and the abrupt changes of tone follow on from each other with a diabolical logic. Moreover, Voll knows how to use black humor and certain moments give sometimes to the work an eccentric side.

Needless to say that the cast is largely equal to the story. Already remarked in the invigorating "Western" (1997) by Manuel Poirier (whose he is one of his favorite actors),Sergi Lopez finds the role of his life in Harry. It will certainly be hard for him to equal his performance in the future.

Highly recommended, "With a Friend like Harry" is a work that can be understood on several levels. It's a fascinating work and however we come out of the projection with a little uneasiness because of Michel's disturbing face. Harry's influence has altered him and he looks threatening as if he was going to commit something bad. As for Harry, in the domain of the pain in the neck characters, he is, in the long run, not exactly like Seraphin Lampion in "the adventures of Tintin"!

The opening scene to this film is what immediately pulled me into the story, characters, and emotions. The consistent nagging of our main character's children pulled not only at Michel's mind, but also deeply into ours. This sets the stage, while already having your emotions and sense heightened, for the meeting of Harry, Michel's counterpoint in the film. A classic combination of American Psycho and Swimming Pool, our two characters and everything surrounding them pull us in every direction. From confusion, to suspicion, to fear, and even disbelief, we watch as a simple friend, and unknown acquaintance becomes so deeply rooted in this struggling family. Director Dominik Moll has done his homework in this genre and successfully creates a film that not only tantalizes, but also settles in deep inside you releasing snippets of fear throughout the story. His camera angles, structure, and deeply rooted character development make this little, almost unknown, thriller a step above the others out there.

As I said before, Dominik Moll does a great job directing. It is obvious from the opening credits until the chilling ending that he is very comfortable with the genre and the material. There are some amazing scenes that boldly stick out in my mind, and that is a great sign that the director has gone well beyond his duties to create a powerful film. Outside of the direction, which does stand on its own, we also have some of the best casting around. Sergi Lopez literally steals every scene in this film. His charisma, quiet demeanor, and sinister eyes keep our eyes focused directly on him at all time. Moll gives us nothing about Lopez's Harry, which makes him even more watchable. He is curious and slippery all at the same time. We are never quite handed the reason for Harry's persistence with Michel's writing or the back-story on how these two met (the circumstances that apparently effected Harry's life),and it works in this film. I am notorious for needing more stories to accentuate the characters, but in Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien, none is needed. The suspense is built by not knowing and it really sends a chill up your spine.

Talking a bit more about the characters, I loved the way that Plum was handled. Who was she? Why did she always seem to know what Harry was doing? To me, that was some of the more frightening elements of this film. Plum had a secret, and I really wanted to know what it was. You can never trust Harry, which makes me wonder what was the truth and what were lies that he spoke about. Strangely, the way that I saw it, Harry never lied. Outside of the dirty deeds that he sometimes did, he was a pretty honest guy and I think that was his way of winning over Michel's support. On a side note, could you not see this film being remade using Robin Williams as the role of Harry. After seeing him in One Hour Photo and Insomnia, I could see him pulling off a role similar to this (also, Lopez sometimes looked exactly like Williams). Oh well, it was just a thought.

What kept this film going was the simplicity of the story. It was obvious that Moll used the ever-popular direction known as "K.I.S.S." (Keep It Simple Stupid) to keep his audience focused on the characters that were in front of them. This was a character-based film that, like an onion, had layers upon layers of emotions. There were no elaborate sets, no twists and turns, no sudden jumping that would detract us from the story, it was a simple story with amazing characters, nothing more … nothing less. For this film, it worked.

Finally, I would like to take you on a thought journey if you wouldn't mind. Think about this for a moment as you finish reading this review. I thought of this after watching the film and as I typed this review. What if there was no Harry? What if Harry was just a figure of a broken man's imagination? From the opening scene we see the tension that Michel is feeling about his life and family, why is it impossible to think that perhaps he created Harry out of thin air to help him through the rough times. We all think of times in our lives that we wished we could go back to, perhaps Michel's time was when he was writing. Writing seemed to ultimately make him happy, so why not dream of a way of getting back there. When it got to scary for Michel (breakdown was pushing him away from those that he loved),is when he had to deal with Harry. I know there are logistical issues with this thought process, for example conversations and so forth, but it was a thought I had as this film seemed to wrap up. Maybe others feel the same, perhaps I am crazy, who knows … only I will know when I approach you as a lost friend next time you are at a rest area.

Overall, very impressive work by everyone involved. I thought that the story was tight, the characters were immensely disturbing and exciting at the same time, and the images decorated the film very well. I would suggest it to anyone that loved Swimming Pool, the structure is very similar … except one is sex and the other is writing. They do go together … don't they?

Grade: **** out of *****

There is something alarming and off-kilter about Harry from the moment we meet him; his casual way of speaking about orgasms and forgotten childhood poems to (essentially) complete strangers just a few hours after their first meeting only intensifies our suspicions. Sergi Lopez gives a brilliantly unnerving yet subtle performance as Harry, and he's the best reason to see the film. But not the only one. The director is able to present characters, situations and family tensions that are thoroughly believable, thereby drawing us deeply into the story. The acting is first-rate, the camerawork excellent; what the film needed to help it move into the realm of "great" was a little more snap. (***)