Villechaize as written is a glorious part - poignant as he wrestles with the limitations placed on him by others and infuriating as he spurns the help of those trying to save him from himself - even if it was far less fun in real life.

Dinklage is superb, not just peeling back Villechaize layer by layer, but conveying simultaneously a man who was manipulative and aggressive...but also lonely and vulnerable and plain sad.

My Dinner with Hervé cannot make a straight-faced claim that Villechaize was an important actor or significant cultural figure, so its own significance depends on the star's charisma, which lends the proceedings a simple poignance.

To see Dinklage bring such humanity and pathos to such a complexly unhappy character was the most profound aspect of the film.