Les corps ouverts

OPEN BODIES (Les Corps Ouverts) runs 47 minutes, and it's very worthwhile investing this short amount of to feel the human warmth of the main character, and those who surround him. Though the milieu and subject matter: the Maghreb male (North African) youth in Paris juggling a life full of contradictions, choices, and prejudices could not be more familiar to the average viewer attracted to this title, OPEN BODIES does offer fresh insight, to the subject, and makes one almost feel like one's peeking into this young guy's life.

Remi is a 18-year old North African boy living in Paris. He tries to take care of his sick father in between school, a job and a girlfriend. A casting session for a film not only opens up new possibilities but also introduces him into the world of gay sex. He starts looking for himself on the streets, at a dance rave and in a gay sauna. Les Corps Ouverts is a so-called poetic film that shows the frictions between lifestyles (gay/straight), identities (immigrant/French) and cultures (conservative/modern). Remi struggles to achieve something and become himself but the road turns out to be a confrontation.

This movie has only been reviewed twice, in 25 years, so it either isn't very frequently watched, or reviewers don't know what to make of it. I'm one of the latter. The version that I streamed at Amazon Prime was announced as "restored", so this film is evidently deemed worthwhile for such a restoration; to me however it's a mystery why.

The synopsis promises some kind of sexual coming-of-age story, concerning young Rémi, an Islamic high shool student, living in Paris with his conservative family. At home he is a well-behaving studious son, but in secret he is roaming the streets and clubs, on the lookout for sexual encounters, with girls as well as with (older) men, and even aspiring a career in porn films.

This is all pictured in a compilation of extremely short scenes, with sparse dialogue and grainy photography (in spite of the restoration, so apparently it's supposed to look like that). There's hardly any narrative, only with some effort we can discern a vague chronology in the scenes. We see Rémi exchange a few words with his family or his friends, or dozing in his class-room, or having sex (discretely filmed), and that's it. After yet another of those seemingly isolated scenes the image suddenly turns black and the credits start rolling - the end.

Maybe the things that were said and pictured are extremely Deep & Meaningful, and I probably missed tons of metaphors, but it all eluded my (no doubt too simple) brain. In my humble opinion it came down to a mystifying, pointless bore. Thankfully it only lasted 45 minutes.