Gay Paree

Their love of Jerry Lewis notwithstanding,the French maintain an enduring image of sophistication, especially compared to Americans. They imbibe their wine and taste their escargot, we guzzle our beer and snarf our chicken wings. Their supposedly enlightened attitudes extend to amour as well; whenever a high-profile sex scandal breaks in the U.S., inevitably there's reports of Parisians tut-tutting Americans as being naive or prudish.

Francis Veber's film The Closet makes you wonder how much of that is a pose. A conventional entertainment about societal attitudes toward homosexuality, The Closet, however droll, suggests that the French may be more conservative and stuffy than they let on.

Daniel Auteuil (of films like The Widow of Saint-Claire and Jean de Florette) subsumes his characteristic intensity for the role of Francois Pignon, a mild-mannered accountant at a rubber manufacturing company. Ignored by his ex-wife and teenage son, he has nothing but his work — and then he overhears a men's room conversation that he's due to be downsized.

Contemplating suicide, Pignon has a chance encounter (via a stray kitten) with his avuncular new neighbor Belone (Michel Aumont). A lonely gay man and former industrial psychologist, Belone suggests that Pignon, though straight, can save his job by outing himself: The company won't fire him if they fear accusations of homophobia. They computer-alter a photo to put Pignon's face on a fellow wearing butt-baring leather chaps and send it anonymously to his company.

In a fully clichéd take on the subject, this would be the cue for limp wrists and Village People hits. But Belone instructs him not to camp it up at the workplace: "You'll pull it off if you do nothing at all." When word about Pignon spreads, his co-workers switch on their 'gay-dar' and find that his every mannerism is suddenly evidence of homosexuality. Pignon faces complications both good and bad: Comely supervisor Michele Laroque wants confirmation that he doesn't like women, while his son finds gay dad suddenly fashionable. But he also must face thuggish gay bashers and the prospect of entering a gay rights parade while wearing a giant condom.

The bully of the office is boorish, rugby-mad Santini (Gerard Depardieu), who's convinced by a co-worker (The Dinner Game's Thierry Lhermitte) that he could lose his job if he's perceived as a homophobe. "I've nothing against gays! Damn that faggot!" exclaims Santini, who becomes increasingly obsessed with providing his tolerance of Pignon. Making Santini increasingly manic, Depardieu proves consistently funny and loose. He gives the equivalent of one of Robert De Niro's low key supporting roles in films like Meet The Parents, which offer better acting than in allegedly "serious" films.

When Santini gives Pignon a pink sweater as a birthday present, The Closet's comedy is fairly conventional. Anytime someone does something naughty, people inevitably come walking in — there's even a timely Japanese tour group. But Veber offers some solid sight gags, opening and closing the film with Pignon trying to get in the company photo while on the margins, pushing so the whole row sways back and forth. The colors are bright and sunny throughout, especially the company's baby blue factory equipment, visible through the glass walls of the offices and looking like a design of Willy Wonka's.

The film's treatment of gay people isn't so colorful. As the only gay character, Belone, though angry about his own experiences with homophobia, ultimately becomes just a tired stereotype of a sexless gay neighbor who gives the protagonist life lessons.

While Auteuil earns our sympathy and the film prompts plenty of laughter, the plot is akin to an American TV comedy from before "Will & Grace" or "Ellen," when a character like, say, Frasier Crane or Chandler Bing would be mistaken for gay. It allows the writers a chance to be supportive of homosexuality without having to deal with gay people as individuals who might want recognition or relationships.

The Closet may seem behind the times, but it appropriately explores hypocrisy behind political correctness. "In pretending to be gay, I became a better man," Pignon says, and the film satisfyingly resolves his story. Plus, in a scene where Pignon gets ticketed for driving while using a cell phone, The Closet confirms that at least when it comes to traffic, France has it over us.??