PATRICE LECONTE (Intimate Strangers, The Man On The Train) directs this warm comedy starring Auteuil as a wealthy art dealer forced to find a best friend to settle a bet. It is a difficult task because he is generally despised, and he enlists the services of an amiable but naive taxi driver (Dany Boon) to teach him how to be personable.

It's pleasant enough, with a wry eye on the nature of true friendship and French class differences.

Auteuil and Boon have an amusing rapport, but Leconte lets the film down by resorting to TV game show conventions to ratchet up tension. And there is a hunk of brie at the end that was too sickly for my stomach.

Goodbye Bafana (Bille August): Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert, Diane Kruger Running time: 140 minutes. . .

JOSEPH FIENNES stars in this ho-hum allegory about South Africa which is based on the memoirs of Nelson Mandela's long-time prison officer.

He is transformed from a hardass bigot to human being, worn down over the years by Mandela's tranquil presence and ability to stare out the window for hours on end.

He eventually comes to reject Apartheid and respect Mandela . . . a convincing performance by Dennis Haysbert.

But Goodbye Bafana has little personality, perhaps out of too much deference to the subject matter.