Chroniques sexuelles d'une famille d'aujourd'hui

The story is simple, just a cross-section of an everyday family with very real sexual scenarios. I was stunned to see such great acting in a cast readily open to perform explicit sex acts. Romain's, the recently turned 18 male lead, very real awkwardness is cringe-worthy and forced out of me an embarrassed laugh. All the actor's chemistry with each other was perfect, I couldn't imagine it done better, because it didn't need to be done better.

The film is careful to steer clear of pornographic style and only shows a minimum of explicit acts while remaining so real you may as well be there with them.

I'm not giving it a ten only because I felt it didn't challenge me enough as a viewer. Although, If you're on the more reserved side towards sexual expression this may be a very challenging viewing indeed. *side note: Some characters aren't given much development though, but I think too much complexity might detract from the film's simple journey.

Highly recommended film

'Sexual Chronicles of a French Family', to give it its English-language title, pretty much does what it says on the tin! Members of a French family - including granddad - have sex. It all kicks off when the youngest son is suspended from school for masturbating in class, and while he mopes around the house his parents have sex, his sister has sex (with her boyfriend, often al fresco), his older brother has sex (as part of a threesome) and his grandfather has sex (with his long-term prostitute, who becomes a friend of the family). There's not much of a plot; just a lot of talk, and sex. Thankfully most of the sex scenes are between people whom you actually want to see naked (father and grandfather excepted - sorry chaps!) and it is interesting that although the older brother eventually decides he is homosexual, there's no explicit man-on-man action to match the heterosexual sex scenes, even in the two-men, one-woman threesome scenes.

The version of this I saw at the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival shied away from full-frontal shots, but it's erections galore in the German cut ('Frankreich Privat Die Sexuellen Geheimnisse einer Familie', in case anyone feels like hitting Amazon.de!)

I'm giving this a top score (which I do extremely rarely) not because it it a great film but, because it is a much needed film that no one has been brave enough to make until now.

Reading the other reviews I get the impression that the writers watched the film as 'entertainment', it is that and has enough of a plot & deep enough characters to stand up as such.

However, I believe the films real value shows when seen as what a school biology curriculum may title as "Facts of life: Advanced Course (Sex As A Part Of Life)". It is clichéd and a little unreal, as such educational films are, but still very good.

Of course this film is never going to be shown as part of a school curriculum, or is it? Life itself is a school. Most of us are raised with a closed-minded attitude to sex, and as a result have a perverted view of it.

This film shows us that all us adult pupils of the school of life (from age 16 to the end) are sexual beings for which sex can be a very enjoyable & enriching part. This applies whether or not we have a 'good-looking' appearance, sex can be a beautiful act even when old wrinklies are involved. It also shows that it is to be treated with care & responsibility. It also drops in that sex is something to be shared, not taken or merely bought. While commercialised sex is at best empty & possibly damaging.

Someday this film will be unnecessary, in which case this would be merely entertainment. When that happens I would probably give this a mere 5 or 6, and the other reviews I see would be apposite. Until then this film is great art, given that great art is meant to challenge us & make us think.

Unfortunately most of us have a 'broken' thinking machine so most only see porn. For those can do only see it a such, try watching & understanding the expressions of the sexual participants, both pre & post coition, also during. You will see that love and care comes out much more vividly than eroticism. You will also how it can be awkward for first-time participants but then, as they learn to relax with each other, how the bond between them grows. This is not porn, this is a very worthwhile piece of art for whom I would like to praise all the participants.

Edit: I saw a pirate version of this film after it was taken from a P2P download. But having seen it I decided that it was worth buying and attempted to. However, I was only able to source worthless censored versions. So it seems that I am disallowed from financially supporting the making of such films, and that we are only allowed to learn about sex from perverts (i.e. schoolmarm types & pornography). Hmmmm, what a weird world we live in... it just emphasises the need for more stuff like this film.

Trust the French to make thoughtful, explicit, ground-breaking cinema. SEXUAL CHRONICLES OF A FRENCH FAMILY is, as the title would suggest, a comic drama about the sex lives of three generations of a close-knit French family, and the various mini-dramas that arise from each. The controversial thing about it is that the sex scenes - and there are plenty of them - are real.

In fact, the sex is presented in such an ordinary, matter of fact way, that this is hardly pornographic. It's almost like a documentary in places. The actors, who have no inhibitions whatsoever, happen to be very realistic in their various parts and the way their different lives intertwine is well achieved. Watch out for THE RETURNED's Pierre Perrier, who has a last scene cameo.

The way the topic of sex in a modern family is done with such delicacy and openness at the same time. Very tender moments mixed with a daily reality society faces every day but does not talk about. An original way to tackle a sensitive topic. The actors are very well cast.