ts like the junior cast from Ma Vie Sexuelle wandered in to this film.They're pretending to be a small clique of literature grad students cum wannabe writers. But one bright spark amongst them – Andre Mornay – keeps putting them off. Mornay loathes writers. Probably cus he can't be one himself. But he's clever, even a bit erudite. A clever big head. He wants to be telling all his submissive acolytes what to do, i.e not to write, or be writers. He keeps quoting Karl Kraus ("Why do some write? Because they're too weak not to") as a way of arrogantly subjugating their creative aspirations to his controlling will.If you're wearing the wrong kind of shoes he'll call them vile. Serving him coffee without sugar is pants. If you're scribbling away don't let him see or read it cus he'll dismiss it as "narcissistic cr-p" – and throw it in the bin (or delete it from your laptop, the sneaky git) Yes, he's a condescending tw-t all right. I could see that all the way along. I wonder why his friends didn't twig earlier. Too busy scribbling their narcissistic cr-p. And getting it published. Or too weakly characterised to stand up to him.So when he gets his final comeuppance you can't – well, i couldn't – feel an iota of sympathy for him.For such an apparently clever lad his lies and deceptions seem, at best farcically clumsy, at worst blatantly idiotic. A big flaw in the direction going on here. In need of a better screenplay. Lets ask one of his writer mates. They could make his phoniness more plausible. Or maybe they could just get rid of him completely. Simply write him out of the script.

Imagine that the next episode of THE MOLE plopped a gaggle of cerebral contestants not in the confines of American suburbia, but smack dab in the middle of a Parisian university community. The mole's objective, of course, would be to sabotage any progress toward authentic art or human communication on the part of his\her student peers. This episode comes with a unique twist: none of the other contestants realize the possibility of the mole's existence.Seeing a verbose Iago trying to snuff out any sniff at success on the part of classmates while expecting to receive laureate status via acclamation in LES AMITIES MALEFIQUES is one of the better film portrayals of self-delusion since NOTES ON A SCANDAL.If this sounds interesting, don't bother waiting for an American remake. There is no cute kid part like MOSTLY MARTHA, no explosions as in LA FEMME NIKITA, and not as much creepiness as THE VANISHING. This one's likely to remain a Gallic exclusive.

Delicate film about illusions and truth. About trust and self-introspection, about fiction, desires and social masks. About literature as spider web and structure of an age.Nostalgic pledge for discover of reality's nuances, search of intellectual traps, definition of master and errors, appearances and compassion. The other like perfect prey of our mediocrity. Questions without answers and forms of refuge.It is not a spectacular movie and the ethic circle is one of signs for French vision about social realities but the message, the acting, the lights and the shadows, atmosphere and the subtle end, ambiguous beginning and images of idol-victim, measure of gestures and skin of dialogs, tension and waiting, the carpet of lies and the fight between ambition and its instruments, obsessions and some words of books, self-legitimation and split dreams, taste of Dostoevsky's "The Possessed" makes a special occasion to look an ordinary world in a new light:small sins and vanities ashes.

Fascinating French film on a group of university students and their self-appointed leader, Mourney, who is a big fish in a small intellectual pond. He considers himself a supreme authority on writing - people only write, he says, because they are too weak not to. What begins as a strong, amiable friendship is rooted in Mourney's pompousness, jealousy, and competitive edge, which makes him lie and manipulate his friends to seemingly greater success than theirs. His lies, temper, and falseness leads to his demise, as each of his friends realizes his true nature, and escapes to independence and personal success. Very dark, shadowy, and cold feel to this movie. This was a great film, taking a close look at a character many people have known who is truly poisonous.