It's a trying day for Michel (Laurent Lucas) as he drives his wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner) and their three young, complaining daughters in a boiling hot car to see his mother and father. Eventually the atmosphere grows too heated and they stop off at a motorway service station to cool off and attend to the baby, who is running a temperature. Michel seeks a measure of solitude by going to the men's room, but as he washes his hands he becomes aware of the man next to him staring. He looks round and is greeted by Harry (Sergi López) who says he knows him, although Michel is at a loss to recall where from. According to Harry, they knew each other from school, and Michel accidentally knocked out his tooth on the sports field that his dentist father fixed for him. Michel still doesn't remember but remains polite, though how polite will he be when Harry wants to rekindle a friendship that possibly never existed?
Scripted by director Dominik Moll and Gilles Marchand, Harry, He's Here To Help (or Harry un Ami qui veut du Bien as it was called in French) took a familiar, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock, thriller plot and slowed the pace right down to render a film closer to psychological drama than the high octane excitement it could have been. That's not to say it isn't effective, it's just that the manner in which it takes its own sweet time about telling the story saps some of the tension. What it does have in its favour is López's impenetrable quality, so that even when you are aware of exactly what he's up to, you never quite know why - you also never find out if what Harry says is true, and he really is Michel's old schoolfriend or an impostor.
If he is an impostor then he's certainly done his homework, as he has facts to back up his claims. Once heading back to his car, Michel decides to return home instead of driving all the way to his parents' house as it's all getting to be too much hassle, and that's when Harry makes his move. He invites himself and his attractive but somewhat dull witted girlfriend Plum (Sophie Guillemin) back to Michel's farmhouse. Michel is too polite to refuse, and it's night by the time they return, leading to a chat around the kitchen table with Harry holding forth on the subject of his old pal, in particular his teenage literary ambitions that have impressed him. And he also is quite happy to talk about orgasms and old girlfriends with people he's only just met.
So there's something not quite right about Harry, but his heart is in the right place, as he only wants to help. Unfortunately, the way he goes about helping is unconventional to say the least; he claims to be a millionaire playboy, and as such buys Michel and Claire a new, bigger and air-conditioned car that they really don't want. Harry has overstepped a line, and he's going to take matters further - too far, in fact. It's all about who controls Michel's life, as everyone he knows wants to push him in one direction or another and Harry recognises this. So when Michel's parents insist on visiting, needing their son to go on a two hour drive to fetch them, Harry considers this a bit much, especially in light of their overbearing behaviour when they arrive. His solution? Murder. The unsettling thing about this icy film is that Harry does indeed help, and his twisted methods improve Michel's quality of life, just one grimly comic aspect to film that leaves you with mixed feelings. Music by David Whitaker.
