by Mark Murton and Linda Kay

Directed by: Marion Vernoux

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Pierre (Charles Berling), a ladies’ man of little cash and no fixed abode, and shy, responsible Benoît (Yvan Attal) have been best friends since school. Their relationship changes when Benoît answers the personal ad placed by Marie (Charlotte Gainsborough) and they quickly become a couple. Magnanimously they include Pierre in their dinners, outings, and trips, but then Pierre declares that that he too is in love with Marie.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): We first become aware that Pierre has a cat when Benoît leaves him to enjoy a night out as he returns to his flat, where Pierre is also currently residing, and Pierre asks him to “give my cat a kiss, if you dare.” As Benoît enters the dark flat the brown tabby cat named Fish ‘n’ Chips is lying on a table inside the door and reacts to his arrival.

Going into the kitchen, Benoît opens the fridge and the cat appears at his feet by its bowl, but Benoît cruelly kicks the kitty away declaring, “Beat it, Fish ‘n’ Chips!”

Benoît takes a container of yoghurt from the fridge along with a tin of cat food and scrapes the contents of the tin into the cat’s bowl as Fish ‘n’ Chips eagerly watches on.

Benoît then drops the spoon he has just used to dish out the cat food into his yoghurt and drops the bowl of cat food straight into the pedal trash bin beside Fish ‘n’ Chips. The confused cat is left to sniff forlornly at the top of the closed bin.

Benoît retires to the living room to enjoy his yoghurt and listen to his answering machine messages as Fish ‘n’ Chips continues to cry for food, running into the room and jumping up on the table where Benoît is resting his feet.

Benoît continues to ignore him as Fish ‘n’ Chips climbs on his legs and stares at him.

Benoît takes a spoonful of yoghurt and places it in his mouth but quickly pulls a sour face and spits it out as he tastes the cat food. Fish ‘n’ Chips just stares at the crazy human. (One wonders if this is all supposed to be funny? It would be one thing if Benoît completely ignored the cat because of his being preoccupied with the date he’s just had, but instead he is completely aware of the cat’s presence and dumps the cat’s food for no discernable reason except to be mean.)

Later, Pierre arrives at the flat after a holiday and sits making a fuss of Fish ‘n’ Chips as the two men talk and Pierre reveals he has a new place to stay. Incredibly even though Fish ‘n’ Chips is Pierre’s cat he calls the kitty a terror and even offers to drown him, which Benoît says is fine by him.

Benoît and Marie go to visit Pierre at his new flat, and Pierre gets his first look at Marie as he peeps through a gap in the door where he initially sees Fish ‘n’ Chips happily washing himself on the unmade bed.

The casual cat cruelty returns when Pierre attempts to rearrange the blankets on the bed and throws them onto Fish ‘n’ Chips who puts his ears back and growls before hastily jumping from the bed with a hiss.

Fish ‘n’ Chips is next seen lying on the bed beside Pierre with photos from Benoît and Marie’s recent wedding scattered on the floor beside them.

As the camera pans up to Pierre’s face Fish ‘n’ Chips is heard jumping to the floor and then appears in shot again walking over the photographs as Pierre leans over to stub out his cigarette.

The cat is seen just once more as Pierre looks out the window from the hotel room he’s taken to spy on Benoît and Marie.

Final Mewsings: French film-makers need to learn the difference between comedy and cat cruelty!

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