MERCI DOCTEUR REY
Directed & Written by: Andrew Litvack.
Produced by: Rahila Bootwala & Nathalie Gastaldo.
Director of Photography: Laurent Machuel.
Edited by: Giles Gardner.
Music by: Geoff Alexander.
Released by: Regent Releasing.
Language: English.
Country of Origin: France/USA. 91 min. Not Rated.
With: Dianne Wiest, Jane Birkin, Simon Callow, Vanessa Redgrave & Jerry Hall.

When 23-year-old Thomas Beaumont (Stanislaus Merhar) answers a phone sex ad, little does he know he will soon become a witness to murder. Unbeknownst to the voyeuristic Thomas, the couple he's being paid to watch is none other than his father - whom he believes is dead - and his father's young boyfriend, who kills the dad in cold blood after performing a bizarre erotic dance. Confusing? Well, it gets even zanier when we meet Thomas' mother Elisabeth, the brilliant Dianne Wiest who gets to show a divaesque side that smacks of Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest, but even more over the top. Elisabeth, an opera singer visiting her son in Paris where she is also to perform in Turandot, admits she lied about his father being dead, but does not divulge she is also complicit in the murder.

Naturally, Thomas is traumatized by the killing, so he seeks the help of a therapist: Dr. Rey. Unfortunately, Dr. Rey has recently expired herself and taking her place is Dr. Rey's delusional patient Pénélope (Jane Birkin), who thinks she's Vanessa Redgrave. Thomas and Penelope form an unlikely, yet sweet bond. Meanwhile, Thomas is determined to smoke out his father’s murderer by putting an ad in the paper for a guy matching the killer's description.

Don't let the Merchant Ivory Production listing in the credits fool you: Merci Docteur Rey is hysterical, zany fun. It's a murder mystery with outlandish plot twists, involving everything from brownies laced with pot, a supposed kidnapping, dark-haired hustlers, and the real Vanessa Redgrave. The cast truly seems to be enjoying themselves throughout the film, and the audience is likely to delight in the mayhem too. Tanya Chesterfield
September 13, 2004