‘André Is an Idiot’ review: A surprisingly touching, humorously morbid documentary
The documentary André Is an Idiot is among the funnier films ever made about coping with a terminal illness.
It shouldn’t be invalidating to say that there’s been a developing subgenre of nonfiction films about cancer patients that has, while harrowing, become rather samey. The stories of how people of various backgrounds cope with the unimaginable terror of a debilitating illness and its treatment are still powerful, but there’s a point at which encroaching on someone else’s most personal moments can feel almost too personal. There’s often an attempt to forge a personal connection with a subject who might still feel like a stranger.
André Is an Idiot is unique within this category because it treats life as sacred, but still shows irreverence about its subject. As the title obliquely states, André Ricciardi had himself to blame for not getting a colonoscopy, which would have been able to alert doctors in time to begin treatment for the colon cancer that claimed his life in December of 2023.
The film was born out of Ricciardi’s attempts to do something meaningful with his life after receiving the surprise diagnosis, which came as a complete shock, despite the occasional signs of his depleting health. The film doesn’t begin with a grandiose summation about ‘André’ (who is referred to by his first name, even by his children) and his life’s work.
It instead opens with a lewd joke and proceeds to get more graphic in its description of the painful side effects of going through chemotherapy. What’s remarkable is that André Is an Idiot, despite using his tragic diagnosis as an inciting incident, doesn’t make André into a figure defined only by tragedy. While from a distance he could be described as being an average man with a relatively normal life, nothing could be further from the truth.
That André is an engaging personality makes all the difference, even if his familial life didn’t already have an unusual twist. Although he married his wife, Janice, because she was a Canadian citizen who had no other means to retain her student visa, their platonic relationship transformed into a sincere one after they shared a victory on the game show The Newlywed Game.
André was known for odd collections, telling tall tales, and getting blackout drunk, and he admitted to having wasted his life on a career in advertising. Although he dismisses the profession as one of complete cynicism, there’s evidence that suggests he was still able to use advertising campaigns as a creative outlet, with an absurd marketing campaign for Rise of the Planet of the Apes being one of his oddest creations.
There are certainly moments in which André reacting to updates on his health feel somewhat contrived, even if his family appears to be more than willing to give the filmmakers complete access. However, there’s nothing artificial about his personality, as even the strangest framing devices of the film are inspired by some aspects of his life. Claymation segments, similar to those he created in his advertising days, are used to recreate intimate moments. There’s more than enough archive footage from his early life and marriage that paints a portrait of complete oddball sincerity.
The fact that André eventually becomes part of a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of having colonoscopies is inspiring, but the film doesn’t bend over backwards to imply that this alone gave his life meaning. Instead, it looks at the complex feelings he had as his condition worsened, which included those of confusion, boredom, bemusement, and, near the end, fear. What’s most impressive is that André’s self-depricating, unpredictable sense of humour transforms him into someone of impenetrable entertainment value, which makes it all the more heartbreaking to watch him decline.
André Is an Idiot is a standout within the documentary medium because of both how much it is willing to show and what it specifically avoids. Although there are brief appearances by the protagonist’s children, his deliberate choice to not expose them to his worsening conditions means that they aren’t forced to showcase their grief onscreen.
Similarly, Janice is welcoming in explaining details about the strange and unusual path that their relationship went but also puts a limit on how much of their suffering is seen. Given that the film serves as a summation of his life that could be passed on to his extended family, it makes sense that there’s a slant towards optimism.
The honesty expressed by everyone involved in André Is an Idiot ensures that its subject’s journey of reflection doesn’t feel hackneyed in the slightest, as he wouldn’t have any reason to be dishonest. It’s also, strangely enough, one of the year’s funniest films, a fact that speaks to how barren the comedy landscape has become. Regardless of whether or not he is the “idiot” he had labelled himself as, André is a wholly unique character; if A24 hadn’t been the studio releasing the film about his life, they would have tried to craft him instead.
