Nicholas Maury co-writes and directs My Best Part, and he also stars as Jeremie Meyer, our antihero. Jeremie seduces his boyfriend Albert (Arnaud Valois), but that’s after he plants a spycam in the latter’s apartment. He’s going to mess that relationship up just as much as he’s screwing up his stagnating acting career. He’s afraid of the breakup and auditioning for roles after bombing a film with an auteur (Jean-Marc Barr). So he leaves big Paris for Limosin, the residence of his mother Bernadette (Nathalie Baye), amongst others.

My Best Part that one has to approach with empathy especially with the characters it ambiguously depicts. Although, maybe ‘ambiguous’ isn’t the best word to depict a gay man who’s also too oblivious to function. This and narcissism is something many gay men see within themselves when they finally admit certain truths. Viewers can see this even with his subtle reaction about learning that he’s coming to his father’s memorial. The character design for Jeremie is something I kinda respect – the bad hair, his high pitch, etc.

A thing I commend this film for is that it’s not like other boomer comedies from France. It’s also aiming for younger demographics. There’s also a promise of sophistication here, but it doesn’t follow up on said promise. Exaggeration is the name of the game in French comedy or all comedies like My Best Part. But there are moments when it feels too much, like Jeremie and Albert’s second breakup over spycam. I get it, I can be parasitical too, but you two already broke up, take the goddamn hint. Also, this film had two co-writers and no one thought to shut down some if not all of the ideas?

There are a lot of things about My Best Part that I understand like character relationships, as the film gives less importance to the mother-son relationship because he’s crazy for men. Queer cinema, after all, exists so that queer viewers can pretend to subvert the male gaze by ogling more attractive men. There’s also something slightly mature about Jeremie ogling Bernadette’s friend Kevin (Theo Christine) and then them only being friends. Kevin is, after all, straight, and the film respects that boundary in ways ‘better’ queer cinema doesn’t.

I have ambivalent feelings towards the friendship between Jeremie and Kevin in that it feels like blue balling. It’s also as if Kevin exists so that Jeremie learns how to treat Albert in professional ways. I write ‘professional’ because Albert is also, ‘coincidentally’, Jeremie’s dog’s veterinarian, the two being a few steps away. I’d personally look for another veterinarian with whom I didn’t have a relationship that I messed up. I’m also not a dog person but using a dog’s medical condition to get to someone is icky.

My Best Part, which got into festivals because it was COVID and movies were dead, comes soon to OVID.