The Dinner Game

The Dinner Game (original title: Le Dîner de Cons - English: "Dinner of Fools"[3]) is a 1998 French comedy film written and directed by Francis Veber. It is a film adaptation by Veber of his play Le Dîner de Cons. It was the top grossing French film at the French box office for 1998 and second place overall behind Titanic.[4]

The Dinner Game
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Francis Veber
Produced by	Alain Poiré
Written by	Francis Veber
Starring	Jacques Villeret Thierry Lhermitte Francis Huster Daniel Prévost Alexandra Vandernoot Catherine Frot
Music by	Vladimir Cosma
Cinematography	Luciano Tovoli
Edited by	Georges Klotz
Distributed by	Gaumont
Release date	15 April 1998 (1998-04-15)
Running time	80 minutes[1]
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	$12.5 million
Box office	$65.4 million[2]

Plot

Pierre Brochant, a Parisian publisher, attends a weekly "idiots' dinner", where guests, who are modish, prominent Parisian businessmen, must bring along an "idiot" whom the other guests can ridicule. At the end of the dinner, the evening's "champion idiot" is selected.

With the help of an "idiot scout", Brochant manages to find a "gem", François Pignon, a sprightly employee of the Finance Ministry (which Brochant, a tax cheat, loathes). Pignon has a passion for building matchstick replicas of famous landmarks. Shortly after inviting Pignon to his home, Brochant is suddenly stricken with back pain while playing golf at his exclusive country club. His wife, Christine, leaves him shortly before Pignon arrives at his apartment, as she realizes that he still wants to go to the "idiots' dinner." Brochant initially wants Pignon to leave, but instead becomes reliant on him, because of his back problem and his need to resolve his relationship problems.

He solicits Pignon's assistance in making a series of telephone calls to locate his wife, but Pignon blunders each time, including revealing the existence of Brochant's mistress, Marlene Sasseur (thinking that she is Brochant's sister, since her name sounds like "sa soeur"), to his wife Christine and inviting tax inspector Lucien Cheval to Brochant's house where Brochant is forced quickly to hide most of his valuables in an attempt to disguise his tax evasion.

In the meantime, Brochant is able to make amends with an old friend, Just Leblanc, from whom he stole Christine, and through the evening's events is forced to reassess his mistakes.

Cast

• Jacques Villeret as François Pignon
• Thierry Lhermitte as Pierre Brochant
• Francis Huster as Juste Leblanc
• Daniel Prévost as Lucien Cheval
• Alexandra Vandernoot as Christine Brochant
• Catherine Frot as Marlène Sasseur
• Edgar Givry as Jean Cordier
• Daniel Russo as Pascal Meneaux
  • Bernard Alane as Pascal Meneaux's voice
• Christian Pereirra as Dr. Sorbier
• Pétronille Moss as Mademoiselle Blond

Accolades

At the 1999 César Awards, the film was honored with six nominations of which it won three. The categories it won were Best Actor for Jacques Villeret,[5] Best Supporting Actor for Daniel Prévost and Best Screenplay for Francis Veber. It was nominated but did not win for Best Film, Veber as Best Director and Catherine Frot as Best Supporting Actress.

Award / Film Festival	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
César Awards	Best Film		Nominated
	Best Director	Francis Veber	Nominated
	Best Actor	Jacques Villeret	Won
	Best Supporting Actor	Daniel Prévost	Won
	Best Supporting Actress	Catherine Frot	Nominated
	Best Writing	Francis Veber	Won
Goya Awards	Best European Film		Nominated
Lumières Awards	Best Actor	Jacques Villeret	Won
	Best Screenplay	Francis Veber	Won

Soundtrack

Le Dîner de cons
Soundtrack album by Vladimir Cosma
Released	17 January 2000 (2000-01-17)
Length	40:05
Label	Larghetto

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"Dîner de cons" (orchestral version)	Philip Catherine, Romane, Vladimir Cosma & LAM Philharmonic Orchestra	2:45
2.	"Le temps ne fait rien à l'affaire"	Georges Brassens	2:08
3.	"Dîner de cons" (Phillip Catherine version)	Vladimir Cosma & Philip Catherine	3:32
4.	"Christine et Brochant"	Vladamir Cosma & String Orchestra	0:59
5.	"Manciniade"	Vladimir Cosma	3:20
6.	"Cheval, contrôleur fiscal"	Vladimir Cosma & LAM Philharmonic Orchestra	2:14
7.	"Con à grande vitesse"	Vladimir Cosma & Philip Catherine	2:16
8.	"Nincompoop"	Vladimir Cosma & ICE Group	1:57
9.	"Pignon décomposé"	Vladimir Cosma & String Orchestra & Guitar	1:21
10.	"Marlène Sasseur, nymphomane"	Vladimir Cosma	1:27
11.	"Départ de Christine"	Vladimir Cosma & String Orchestra	1:06
12.	"Dîner de cons" (Romane version)	Philip Catherine, Romane & Vladimir Cosma	3:31
13.	"Louche connexion"	Vladimir Cosma	2:42
14.	"Allo, Henry!"	Vladimir Cosma	3:15
15.	"Juste Leblanc"	Vladimir Cosma & String Orchestra & Guitar	1:29
16.	"Dîner de cons"	Philip Catherine, Romane & Vladimir Cosma	6:03
Total length:			40:05

Other adaptations

• The Hindi cinema remake, Bheja Fry, was released on 13 April 2007.
• A Kannada film titled Mr. Garagasa starring Komal and Anant Nag released in summer of 2008.
• A Malayalam adaptation titled April Fool was released in 2010.
• An American remake starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd called Dinner for Schmucks was released on 30 July 2010.
• A Chinese remake of the film comes in the form of a stage show at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre starring Canadian freelance performer Dashan as Pierre Brochant.[6]
• An English adaptation in 2003, a play by Ronald Harwood called See You Next Tuesday and starring Ardal O'Hanlon in its original run.[7]

Remakes/Inspirations

Year	Film	Language	Cast	Director
1998	Le Dîner de Cons	French	Jacques Villeret, Thierry Lhermitte, Daniel Prévost, Alexandra Vandernoot, Catherine Frot	Francis Veber
2007	Bheja Fry	Hindi	Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sarika	Sagar Ballary
2008	Mr. Garagasa	Kannada	Komal Kumar, Anant Nag, Aishwarya	Dinesh Baboo
2010	April Fool	Malayalam	Siddique, Jagadish, Navya Natarajan, Biju Menon, Jagathy Sreekumar	Viji Thampi
2010	Dinner for Schmucks	English	Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Stéphanie Szostak, Jemaine Clement, Lucy Punch, Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Greenwood	Jay Roach

References

1. "LE DINER DE CONS (THE DINNER GAME) (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 16 November 1998. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
2. "Le Dîner de cons (The Dinner Game) (1998)". Jpbox-office.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
3. The last word is difficult to translate directly into English, as the equivalent English word, "cunt", is considered unacceptably vulgar, and typically has a somewhat more aggressive tone than con (see Bradshaw, Peter (2 July 1999). "Con trick". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 January 2011.) A Dublin and London version of the stage play used a slightly different strategy, shifting the day of the dîner to Tuesdays so the euphemistic title See You Next Tuesday could be used (see: "see you next Tuesday". London Theatre Guide. 3 July 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2013.)
4. "French Box Office Top 25 for 1998". Variety. 11 January 1999. p. 96.
5. Tomasovitch, Geoffroy (16 February 2007). "Mystères autour de l'héritage de Jacques Villeret". Leparisien.fr. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
6. ""Le Dîner de Cons" (The Dinner Game)". Dashan Online. Archived from the original on 23 August 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
7. Spencer, Charles (5 October 2003). "Comedy of cruelty". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

External links

• The Dinner Game on IMDb
• The Dinner Game at Box Office Mojo
• The Dinner Game at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Dinner Game at Metacritic