Garçon chiffon is directed and written by - as well as starring - Nicolas Maury, who I only knew from Knife+Heart. He plays Jérémie, an actor whose career and love setbacks cause him to move back home to live with his mother Bernadette (Nathalie Baye).

You know how Lucio Fulci hated actors? Well, he wasn't wrong.

I kid, I kid.

Meyer goes from losing that film role and getting thrown out of his boyfriend's apartment - well, the guy may have been cheating on him - and back home, where he attends the funeral of his father, who has just committed suicide by shotgun. Perhaps having a multiple gun salute was not the best of ideas for the funeral, huh?

Can our hero win back his lover? Or will he just flirt with other men? The one thing that I can agree with this movie is that a dog can definitely make your life better.

I understand that a French art film that has a lot to stay about depression may not be in my wheelhouse, which is usually films in which clergy members turn into possessed beings, but if this is more your speed, you'll like this. Maybe this is a blind spot for me.

I certainly have a problem with Nicolas Maury: be he straight ("les envoutés" ) or gay (this movie) ,his affected delivery gets on my nerves ;his hangdog look is more exasperating than moving ; it's just an opinion,and some (particularly the highbrow critics) find him sublime:there's no accounting for taste .

"Boys like us" also tells the sentimental problems of three gays but the results were always credible and the movie ,whilst showing respect for the audience , was accessible to anyone .

This one may make some take to their heels after 30 minutes because the scenes don't make any dramatic progression ;but fortunately , Natalie Baye appears as a mom who calls her boy "chiffon" (=rag) ,hence the title ;Baye could blow anyone off the screen but her part is underwritten,and she was never given a single chance to really shine ; she's not so over possessive a mother ,one has seen worse in this field. Theo Christine gives his director a run for his money in the scene by the pool , one of the rare ones in which the movie seems to go somewhere .On the other hand, Laura Calmy's hysterical fit of anger is absolutely unbearable :did she want to surpass Liz Taylor in "who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? Happily , she's got only one scene !

The movie is supposed to depict a gay man's jealousy ,but it's hardly obvious (his partner,a vet ,has an affair with another man,his mother is helped by a man who might take her from him ,but these scenes are few and far between) and it does not compare favorably with Chabrol's "l'enfer" .

"My Best Part" (French title: "Garcon Chiffon") is a French comedy-drama, first released for the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 but having a limited release in the US on February 25th 2022. It will also be available on a range of streaming platforms including Amazon and Apple+.

Jérémie is a gay Parisien actor consumed with jealousy. Depressed and mistrustful of everyone and everything, his love-life and work-life are in freefall as a result. After the suicide of his father, a memorial service is planned. Perhaps a visit to his mother in their family home in the countryside can reset his mental state?

At the time of writing the movie was not yet rated. If I was rating this for the BBFC it would be a 15 in the UK and an R in the US, due to full-frontal male nudity and themes of suicide.

Positives:

• I never found this less than engrossing. As a study of mental decline, I was never quite sure what the struggling and impassioned Jérémie might do next. His 'everlasting' love for veterinarian Albert (Arnaud Valois) seems genuine and heartfelt, but that doesn't stop him flirting with the Adonis that is his mum's handyman Kévin (Théo Christine).

• Within all the dramatic angst are dropped moments of extreme farce;
• - Jérémie attends a meeting of 'Jealousy Anonymous' where the participants declare "It's been xx days since I wised up"!

• - The dotty grandmother (Florence Giorgetti) jokingly accuses her grandson of groping her... mistaking him for his dead father!

• - And after Jérémie's father has blown his head off with a shotgun, the honour guard fires four shotguns into the air, making Bernadette and Jérémie both wince!

• Nicolas Maury, familiar to British viewers from "Call My Agent!", delivers a gripping performance as the soulful actor. Also impressive, in a memorable cameo, is Laure Calamy as Sylvie, a neurotic and dementedly hyperactive film director. Terrifying!

• The quirky music score by Olivier Marguerit is very appealing.

• For pet lovers, the movie features the cutest puppy ever. We would already have a winner if Oscars were given for "Best Animal"!

• This would make a fabulous 90 minute movie. At 108 minutes, it feels like it overstays its welcome a tad. This was Nicholas Maury directorial feature debut and the movie needed some harsher decisions in the editing room.

• I suspect the enigmatic ending might frustrate a lot of people (although I rather liked it).