Jimmy P. movie review & film summary (2014)

Third, Jimmy and his analyst, a French anthropologist and psychoanalyst named Georges Devereux (Mathieu Amalric), form a great movie friendship, unlike any you've seen. Its specialness is rooted equally in the men's culturally specific yet emotionally similar experiences (they're both sensitive, wryly funny cultural outsiders) and in the old-school Freudian "talking cure" that they pursue together. 

Those who have undergone such treatment will appreciate how accurately the film portrays the process, never simplifying anything, never going for the easy dramatic epiphany, always respecting how analyst and patient circle around and around the edges of meaning. Just as marvelous is the core of true friendship that develops between Georges and Jimmy. They seem to genuinely enjoy one another's company. They just click, as great friends tend to do in life.

The fourth selling point—and by no means the least—is the filmmaking pedigree. "Jimmy P." is directed by Arnaud Desplechin ("Kings and Queen," "A Christmas Tale"). He's one of the most fascinating mainstream storytellers to emerge in Europe recently. Like David O. Russell ("American Hustle," "Silver Linings Playbook"), he infuses outwardly conventional genre films with unique moods, rhythms and images. 

This movie's script—co-written by Desplechin, film critic Kent Jones and Julie Peyr ("Four Lovers")—is actually a fusion of two mainstream genres, the buddy movie and the psychological case study (as represented by everything from "The Snake Pit" through the likes of "Good Will Hunting" and "The Prince of Tides"). They merge so pleasantly, and with such understated respect for the uniqueness of each character that passes before the director's lens, that you aren't thinking about "Jimmy P." as representative of any type of film as you're experiencing it. You're just watching a couple of characters get to know each other—and watching people exist generally. 

Now and then you may think the movie is headed toward a classic movie-style crystallization that will "explain" Jimmy P. and perhaps instantly cure him of whatever physical and emotional ailments he's suffering. But this is not the kind of movie that "solves" the hero with "I should have let go" or "It wasn't your fault", then sends him off with a hug and a triumphant swell of music. It is instead the sort of film in which the hero might recount a dream involving a bear and a fox, then let you watch as he and Georges spend several minutes unpacking the mythical and personal meanings of those two animals, with the hero actively participating in the process, the analyst learning as much from him as the hero does from his analyst.