My Best Part (Garçon Chiffon in France), the 2020 directorial debut of Call My Agent's Nicolas Maury, revolves around a Parisian actor at a nadir in his life.
Things haven't been going well for Maury's Jérémie, a nervous type with short bangs and a predilection for novelty sweaters. His father recently took his life, the director (Zentropa's Jean-Marc Barr) who gave him a role has just snatched it back, and his veterinarian boyfriend, Albert (Beats per Minute's Arnaud Valois), will soon kick him out because of his chronic jealousy. (Considering that Albert can be judgmental and verbally abusive, Jérémie may be better off without him).
To save their relationship, Jérémie attends a meeting of Jealousy Anonymous, but it's too much for him to take, so he cuts out early. He'll spend the rest of the film trying to figure things out on his own.
A trip back home to Limousin allows him to reconnect with his loving, if somewhat infantilizing mother, Bernadette (Nathalie Baye)--she refers to him as "Napkin"--and his dotty grandmother, Yvette (Florence Giorgetti, who passed away in 2019).
When Bernadette offers to help Jérémie run lines for a Spring Awakenings audition, he brushes her off. He also spies on Albert remotely by a secret camera. Upon noticing two wine glasses on the counter, he concludes Albert must be seeing the other vet at the clinic. As someone who grew up with a philandering father, Jérémie doesn't expect faithfulness in a partner.
A visit to his late father's cabin to retrieve his gun suggests thoughts of suicide, but help will arrive from an unlikely source, giving him time to get to know Kevin (Théo Christine), the handsome young neighbor who helps his mother around the property, and to fall in love with the red husky puppy, Gugus, she gives him for his birthday. When Gugus takes ill, after he has returned to Paris, it leads him to the veterinary clinic where Albert works, thus occasioning a reckoning between the two.
As an actor, Nicolas Maury has a knack for looking petulant and uncomfortable at the best of times, but what works for his ambitious office assistant-turned-junior agent, Hervé, on Call My Agent doesn't work as well here, not least because he's in every scene. On the French-language Netflix series, now entering its fifth season, he's part of a charismatic ensemble (his Call My Agent colleague, Laure Calamy has a shrill cameo here as a high-strung performer).
As a directorial debut, though, My Best Part is a decent effort (Maury co-wrote the script with Sophie Fillières and Maud Ameline). The film's most valuable player is multiple-César winner Nathalie Baye, who elevates every project in which she takes part. Her Bernadette is a levelheaded widow forging a promising new life for herself. Through her example, Jérémie learns to approach his own life with greater confidence and resilience--and, of course, a cute puppy never hurts.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Programming on modern LGBTQ life in France and other European countries would find a lively example in My Best Part (librarians should be aware of a few brief moments of male nudity, which would result in an R rating in the United States).
Where does this film belong on public library shelves?
My Best Part straddles the line between comedy and drama, so it belongs on public library shelves along with international or French comedies or dramas. A gay leading character also makes it perfect for the LGBTQ comedy, drama, or narrative feature sections.