Departure

This is one of those character driven movies that draw you in from beginning to end.

The movie follows mother and son over a week as they pack up a vacation home and ready it for sale. They meet a local boy enters their lives and complicate matters.

Although slow moving at times, I found this a fascinating watch with believable characters and situations.

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.

Andrew Stegall's film 'Departure' tells the story of a son and his mother under pressure when they have to sell their holiday home in the wake of the break-up of her marriage; and simultaneously, of the son's nascent interest in a local youth. At times, we're dangerously close to Joanna Hogg territory (and I don't mean that kindly), but the characters are mercifully drawn with more warmth and we're allowed enough of a glimpse of the back-story so that the film makes sense. It's still not quite right, however, with alterations between sections that are well-crafted, dull Hogg-like periods where nothing happens save for the characters sulking in their misery, and occasional moments oddly presented as ephanaic in a way that jibes with the mood of the rest of the film. It's not awful, but I found it hard to get engaged.

10+10+10 Stars! This film tugs my heart on SO many levels. Alex Lawther is magnificent. I felt every emotion along with him. Juliet and Phénix round the cast brilliantly. Tears of joy!

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.