(French with English subtitles)
Franck, a gay man, frequents a secluded lakeside spot where others gather for swimming, nude sunbathing and cruising for sex. He befriends, Henri, a stranger who is not gay, has not come to the lake to swim nor sunbathe and is not looking for sex. Franck also befriends and becomes sexually active with Michel, a gay man who remains frustratingly distant despite the sexual intimacy.
The French have a fascinating film industry. They delight in making films that lack action, and often much plot, but which still entertain because of the sophistication of the characters, their fashion, lifestyles and cafe conversation.
'L'Inconnou du lac', released in Australia as 'Stranger by the Lake', is both typical and an exception to the style above. It is typical in that there is no action, if you exclude a murder presented distantly and unemotionally, and the exception in that it lacks all of the sophistication markers mentioned.
The film contains no music whatsoever. It presents graphic gay sex, nudity, and from memories of my youthful sex life, a quite realistic representation of gay cruising in secluded public areas. Every scene is filmed at or by the side of the lake. The passing of each day is portrayed by an almost identical scene of Franck driving into the lakeside spot.
I didn't really buy the developing relationship between Franck and Henri, who seem to have nothing in common, although by the end I was accepting of it. I was troubled that Franck and the others would continue visiting the spot to cruise and have sex in so doing ignoring the disappearance and apparent murder of one of them and was relieved when the same concern was articulated by the character of a policeman late in the film.
This film won't appeal to many people.
★★
So many French films move with their characters through life, or at least a slice of it, without explosions, car crashes, or rapid gunfire. Then they just end, as if you've just stopped watching. Very much like real life. The French say that American movies always have to have "le 'appy-end." French movies don't. Of course, there are also many French movies that fit the American pattern, but at least they haven't lost the ability to make the other kind. Americans might call them "art films" or "independents."
ReplyDeleteWalt, I love watching French films set in urban settings and those where family life is portrayed.
ReplyDeleteThis one though was heavy going for me. There was no character development and no revelations as to why the characters behaved the way they did. It was a slice of life alright but in the end I felt as though I had been a peeping tom on the sidelines.