Departure

This is a simple story that has so many layers that it becomes completely complex. Beatrice (Juliet Stevenson) is going through a marital crisis and she has brought her son – Elliot (Alex Lawther 'X and y') to help her pack up their idyllic summer home in rural France; it having become another victim to the relationships deterioration. Then Elliot sees a local lad swimming in the reservoir – which is strictly not allowed – and decides he has to get to know this boy better – a lot better.

This is Clement and he is a force of nature , all emotion and rough hewed charm and his arrival makes the simple act of closing down one part of their lives become more about opening up what – until then – had remained closed off in their lives.

This is beautifully filmed and acted to perfection. It is almost painfully honest in places and the raw emotions are both riveting and almost repulsive in equal measure. This is a film that seems to take its time but it really doesn't it is strong and measured and the characters seem completely real. The depth of the story is as complex as reality often is and strikes home all the more forcefully for it. In short this is an absolutely stunning film that is worth all the plaudits and more.

Last year there was only one film that completely shocked me, that put in turmoil the brain and heart, occupying a place for a very long time. It was MOMMY, by Xavier Dolan. DEPARTURE had a similar effect on me. It's a small film, independent, a debut. And perhaps for all these three reasons, there is an urgency so sincere to tell this story to make its strength and its power literally unstoppable. DEPARTURE is a wonderful piece of cinema, which reveals a great director of the future. Powerful, bright, completely honest. Well written, well directed, well played. It comes from the heart. And it goes to the heart.

Teenage Elliott and his mother Beatrice return for one last time to the beautiful family house in South-West France in the autumn, to pack up and sell it. Whilst there, they meet someone who touches them both.

"Do you think you can know something before it happens?" asks the young Elliott. As the autumn leaves fall and Elliott explores his sexuality, he realises the summer of innocence is gone forever.

Juliet Stevenson and Alex Lawther are perfect in this haunting film. The photography is stunningly beautiful and complimented by a wonderful soundtrack including Oliver Daldry.

This is a film you will want to see again.

Andrew Steggall's lovingly directed first feature is a breath of fresh air in the British cinema scene. What at first sight looks to be a quite familiar LGBT coming of age story is turned by Steggall and his lead actress, Juliet Stevenson, into a far deeper and more engaging story. Elliott's (Alex Lawther) discovery of his own sexuality is beautifully framed against the collapse of his parents' marriage and their discovery that their lives had been based on falsehoods that, in some sense had crept up on them unawares. This is a film that will reach out far beyond the LGBT market and should do well across the European art scene. Very finely and delicately shot in the Languedoc region of France it establishes Steggall as a truly new voice in British cinema - not just composed and assured in the medium but with a distinct aesthetic of his own. It will be fascinating to see where he goes in his next feature - surely a larger and even more ambitious project.

Excellent film. Beautiful backdrop of rural Languedoc in autumn, natural peaceful and unspoiled whilst the lives of the characters portrayed are anything but. I do not agree at all with those reviewers here who give the movie a panning. I thought it was very sensitively handled and there was a lot of authenticity and insight into young Elliott's first gay fumblings.

Yes, some bits of dialogue and screenplay were a bit clunky and wooden, especially when the father arrived towards the end of the film. But I really enjoyed the interaction and exploration between the two young men: lonely young gay English lad bored with his mother on holiday bumps into sexy athletic moody young Frenchman , OK you could say it is 'cliched', but so much of our lives are unoriginal, but no less exciting when it happens to us for the first time at that age. I saw a lot of myself in Elliott.

One of the most enjoyable gay movies I have seen in a long time. And the fact there was very little sex in it was not a problem at all. It improved the narrative. Less is more in this case. Well done Andrew Steggall.