Amitiés sincères (2012)

Paul, Walter, and Jacques are three close friends in their fifties, with very different personalities. Jacques is a highly intellectual gay man and a Parisian bookseller. Walter, owner of the upscale restaurant Les Trois Zèbres, is a loudmouthed boor and an intolerant man who is vying for a third Michelin star, while Paul is a writer suffering from a lack of inspiration. The three friends regularly meet at Jacques’s bookstore to share a meal and an excellent bottle of wine. Walter Orsini, a paternalistic and possessive father, overprotects his 20-year-old daughter Clémence, whom he is raising alone after his divorce, and comes up with schemes to keep her from becoming independent. Having been hurt by a lie told by his own father, Walter swore never to lie to anyone in his life. Clémence falls in love with Paul, despite the 30 years between them. After briefly refusing her, he too gives in to love, because she has rekindled his literary inspiration. Gradually, everyone learns about and accepts this unusual relationship. But Clémence and Paul, anxious about Walter’s possible reaction, put off the day they tell him about their love. The lie, which Walter so detests—though he is never willing to hear the truth—nevertheless takes hold among them all. Will the three friends’ sincere, thirty-year friendship be able to withstand this ordeal?