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Le dîner de cons

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Le scénario de film que Francis Veber a tiré de sa pièce. Pierre organise un fois par semaine un dîner de cons. Ce soir, il a trouvé un champion du monde, François. La soirée va devenir imprévisible... « Copyright Electre »

217 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

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Profile Image for Realini Ionescu.
4,117 reviews20 followers
July 4, 2025
Le Diner de Cons by Francis Veber adapted in Hollywood as Dinner for Schmucks http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/06/d...

9 out of 10





In a surrealist, or just plain objective manner, we could see the world as a Giant Dinner for Schmucks, where there is not enough dinner, food is lacking in many parts of the world, but the Cons are everywhere, all at once, to quote the title of the winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, and so much more…



Even The Netherlands, once the epitome of the advanced, progressive, model realm – where my daughter, Hannah, has been studying for the last four or five years – has just given a landslide victory (for their standards) to the far right Wilders, a fellow who wants out of the EU, a ban on mosques and other illiberal laws

Look at what the electorates vote for, and the joke of the film gets serious, nay, dramatic, for from Argentina to the USA, Hungary to Austria, humans are becoming schmucks, since what they choose, represents them, and as the brilliant HL Mencken has said ‘Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard…’ ha has a few other clever ideas



‘Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one's wife's sister's husband…’ this is from the same sage, and indeed, it refers to the notion that we compare ourselves with others, notwithstanding ‘Happiness Activity No 3: Avoid Over thinking and Social Comparison- using strategies such as distraction to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems and compare yourself with others’

This is from The How of Happiness http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/t... by Sonja Lyubomirsky, albeit I have found the proposition that we could compare with others, if only we think of the multitudes that have so much less than we do, and their lives are awful…



Einstein said ‘'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I am not sure about the universe…’hence, this idea of the dinner for Schmucks, which appears comical in the movies, the original and the remake, only under the present circumstances, there is‘infinity’ of candidates for the occasion

For some odd reason, I think now of the national soccer or football team, which has just been celebrated for qualifying for the European Final Round in Germany, a performance that has to do with exercise, training, just like Malcolm Gladwell explains in his Outliers http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/t... where the ten thousand hours rule is explained



If you dedicate ten thousand hours, over ten years, which means three hours per day for training, exercise, practice, then you have an excellent chance (given other factors) to reach the very top, and be one of the best in the chosen domain, for which you have to have some inclination, talents, skills and luck

Malcolm Gladwell has looked at The Beatles, Mozart, Steve Jobs, Olympic teams, and more broadly, at the Eastern societies, which have roots in the cultivation of rice, a very demanding crop, that has gotten the Easterners into the habit of working much more than the Westerners, who have had their food from maize, less exhausting plants



Now, this national team has had an immense amount of luck from what I gather, but nevertheless, the point here is not to discuss the merits or lack thereof on the pitch, I have little idea about that, although, if we look where they play, it is not for Manchester City, or any of the really great squads, it is in the Gulf, second divisions…

The problem here is Diner de Cons, and they have just had one, after they won the last match, they got together, to enjoy some of the worst possible music, showing a flagrant lack of education, and worse still, the sexist, awful, insulting lyrics have reached the public, and if their supporters do not care, I do



Which means that I will not hope for their success, indeed, this is one of those silly instances, where one is glad for the win of people with whom one has little, nay, nothing in common, those rude, inane, fellows are the paradigm of the individuals I try to avoid, for they cause nausea with their tastes and acts

Speaking of paradigm, the best possible example is in the Booker Prize Winner Vernon God Little http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/06/v... by DBC Pierre, in which the protagonist is told to imagine he walks into a room, and there is a man with a finger up his granny’s ass



What does he think, he thinks he will kill the fellow, but then he is told that the man has found there is a clear and present danger and is trying to save the old relative, against his disgust, what does he feel now, he is grateful and sees the stranger as a hero…so paradigm shifts work that way, not for these soccer players however

More catastrophic is the way these Cons vote, they pick The Confidence Man http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/c... the ultimate fraudster, convicted in court for the way he cheated with his business, an obvious fool, moron and cheat, but favorite to win!



Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se



As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”



Profile Image for Caroline.
24 reviews2 followers
May 11, 2017
Can I get extra points for reading this in French??
Profile Image for Léa.
17 reviews2 followers
September 28, 2018
Trop bon

cette pièce me réconcilie avec le théâtre. Je la recommande à mes amis et mes etudiants. Encore encore encore !
Profile Image for Fred.
644 reviews43 followers
October 15, 2019
Hilarious play: full of farce, yet with quite a sad underlying story!
Very accessible to read, even to people just learning French. Bravo!
Profile Image for judit.
87 reviews1 follower
June 28, 2023
Lectura obligatoria muy aburrida y agobiante, ya que nunca cambian de escenario. No lo recomiendo nada, a no ser que seas mi profe de lengua.
Profile Image for Carla Viladrich .
62 reviews
July 22, 2022
"El sopar dels idiotes" és una obra de teatre escrita per Francis Veber. 🎭

El primer que has de saber és que el protagonista, Pere, i els seus amics, fan un sopar totes les semanes al que porten "idiotes" per les rialles (clar, que els idiotes no saben que els han portar per això).

L'obra comença amb el fi de la rel•lació de Pere i Cristina💔, perquè a Cristina no l'agrada lo del sopar dels idiotes. Després, l'idiota es presenta a casa de Pere🏠 i es formen problemes mentre que tracten de trobar a Cristina i fer que torne a casa.

Es suposa que eixos conflictes són "còmics", però per a mi no ho són.

No està tan mal, però no m'ha agradat molt...
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