The Closet

Francois Pignon, Daniel Auteuil, is a slightly nerdy accountant who works in a condom manufacturing company. His fellow workers reckon he`s dull and boring, and so did his wife, who left him, and his teenage son, who doesn`t have any time for him. When Pignon overhears that he`s to be retrenched, he gets suicidal; but his neighbour, Belone, Michel Aumont, comes up with a great idea: if word gets out that Pignon is gay, he won`t be fired - political correctness will see to that, just as many years ago the reverse was true - Belone had lost his job because he was gay. The plan works: soon everyone at work wants Pignon to know he`s acceptable to them - the boss, Jean Rochefort, the PR director, Thierry Lhermitte and the company`s personnel director, Felix Santini, a notorious homophobe, played by Gerard Depardieu...Francis Veber`s comedies have invariably featured a character called Pignon who is the butt of most of the jokes, but in The Closet, the worm turns. The incredibly versatile Daniel Auteuil plays the mild-mannered hero who bores everyone rigid - until they discover he`s gay. The comedy here is pretty broad - Veber, whose last film was the hit, The Dinner Game, isn`t known for his subtleties, but much of it`s pretty funny, and I just hope that misplaced political correctness won`t be invoked to spoil the fun. The Closet is also graced with some excellent performances; apart from Auteuil, the most notable is Gerard Depardieu, who`s worked many times with Veber in the past, and who`s in absolutely top form as the redneck who has an unusual change of heart.