Apenas uma Questão de Amor

'Juste une question d'amour' is a small film made for French TV that is one of the most sensitive, unbiased examinations of how the 'coming out' of gay men impacts not only the one who bravely steps forward but also his friends both male and female and his family. So often films such as this fall under the title 'Queer Cinema' and that is as unfair to the audience as it is to the writer and director of the film. This film is meant for the general public and should it receive higher profile in publicity, many longstanding prejudices would at least have the chance to be questioned by both gays and straights.

Laurent (Cyrille Thouvenin) lives with his parents Jeanne (Danièle Denie) and Pierre (Idwig Stephane) behind the family Pharmacy. Laurent is secretly gay though he lives with his best girlfriend Carole (Caroline Veyt) who adores him and wholly accepts his sexuality and is content to serve as a 'front' for Laurent's closeted role with his parents. He is not doing well studying agriculture, primarily due to the fact the his close cousin Marc died recently and had been disowned by his aunt and uncle when he announced he was gay. Laurent can only see that he must keep his secret so that his parents (whom he loves deeply) will not be 'injured' by his admitting his sexuality. His marks in school are so poor that he is instructed to do an internship in field agriculture to raise his academic standing. His assigned tutor is Cédric (Stéphan Guérin-Tillié) who lives an openly gay life with his warmly understanding and loving mother Emma (Eva Darlan) in an idyllic garden setting that also serves as Cédric's agricultural research lab.

Though instantly attracted to each other, Laurent maintains his closeted life until Cédric reveals his affection: the two become happy, passionate lovers. All goes well until Cédric insists that Laurent be in an open relationship, a state that would demand that Laurent inform his parents of his preferences. Laurent, fearful that his parents would disown him as his cousin was treated, flees and it is only after Cédric's mother Emma, a woman who loves the fact that her son is in a healthy relationship and longs for Laurent to allow his parents to love him for who truly he is, takes it upon herself to confront Laurent's parents with the truth. The manner in which this initial trauma affects each of the characters forms the platform for the resolution of the story.

This is a brave film, very intelligent and sensitive and informative, and is made all the better by the excellent cast. Each actor gives characterizations that are completely credible and three-dimensional: none of the too familiar stereotypes are here. It is to the credit of director Christian Faure and his co-writer Annick Larboulette that JUST A QUESTION OF LOVE succeeds on every level. This is one of the most quietly powerful stories about same sex challenges to be addressed on the screen. Highly Recommended for ALL audiences. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp, May 05

It's got to be said that these 2 French actors (Thouvenin and Guerin-Tillie) have Chemistry. That's spelled with a capital "C"...(and, well, you just gotta make the "H", the "E", the "M" and all the rest of 'em, capital letters, too). Plus, as actors, these guys are not afraid to express their feelings by making that extra gesture of a passing touch or hand-on-arm (how often we don't see this from our American actors). There's a very striking feeling projected by this film that really makes you have to wonder: if these guys weren't already in love prior to filming, then surely mustn't they have become so during the process.......at least that's what their performances so vividly project to the audience. It's what one is left with after watching this film: THAT WAS REALLY LOVE! What greater mark of success could be asked for, or achieved, in setting a gay romance on film?

One other important point on their performances: while the actors portraying Laurent and Cedric can be so explosive in their expressiveness toward each other, they also make themselves such fun to be with (as a viewer you feel as if you're right there, actually sharing their fun, excitement and joy in discovering sex and love with each other). Make note of these things as you watch, and see if the old pulse-rate doesn't go up on more than one occasion......and your "chuckle-bone" will get a good workout as well. What it all boils down to is simply that seeing and experiencing their strongly expressed feelings for each other is worth a 1000 times the price of admission.

As a little bit of a postscript, this reviewer just has to add--Rarely has a movie title been more fitting and meaningful than this one's, especially as it is explained and demonstrated in the heartrending denouement which takes place between father and son in the final moments of the film. "Really," it tells us, "after everything else has come, been considered, and gone, all that's left and important is......just a question of love!"

As a final postscript--To say that this French director's work is award worthy, is the grossest of understatements.

SCENES TO WATCH OUT FOR:

--Don't miss this couple's first one-on-one in the agricultural lab which is to be their joint workplace: It's a first-meeting-and-feeling-each-other-out scene in which sparks fly---the tension between them fairly crackles.

--And one should definitely note: This pair's first post-coital scene is so full of satisfaction and obvious feelings for one another that those emotions practically jump off the screen. It's only topped, moments later, during a scene in which "Mom" walks in on the pair, unannounced----it's beyond priceless.

--Even more telling is the "water-fight" scene: You've never seen such fun and joy over being together expressed by a gay couple in any previous movie. No wonder this scene leads to the one which it does.

****

The most shocking thing about this French 'coming out' story is that it was made for television! In the States, this kind of film would turn out like an 'after school special' crossed with a movie of the week (with Jane Seymour as one of the mothers). But this is an incredibly intelligent film from start to finish. Beautifully scripted, carefully directed, perfectly cast and exquisitely performed. From the idyllic opening scene to the penultimate scene of familial healing, this is one film that defies stereotyping. The two leading men turn in sensitive, honest, riveting performances. The woman who play their mothers are also quite extraordinary. There is also a standout performance by the actress playing Laurent's best friend Carole. Whenever I felt the script might veer toward the cliché, it managed to balance itself with a moment of pure honesty. Laurent's father and uncle, for example, confide in the opening scene that two men having an intimate relationship makes them sick and that they feel justified in turning their back on any gay family member. The screenwriters counter this neatly with Emma, a mother who has come to terms with her gay son, and hopes to help Laurent's parents to a similar understanding. The older (hetero) men certainly look like clichés at first, but are fleshed out to the point of possible redemption by film's fade out. JUST A QUESTION OF LOVE is perhaps the best film on this subject I've ever seen.

Very impressive, well done. All the actors, actresses were very good at doing their parts.

There is one mistake that I found. I thought that whoever did the make up did an excellent job, especially on Laurent's mother Jeanne. She was so radiant when she was visiting her son, then she became so old after she learned that her son is gay. So after I finished watching the show, (I am surprised that it is not a movie.) I watched that chapter again. To my surprise, her hair was up when she was standing at the door. Then later on, when she was relaxed in the room, all of sudden, her hair was down again.

Everyone looks so natural, it doesn't seem as if they were acting. It is as if they were really people with real problems. I also like Cedric's mother - Emma, she reminds of someone that I know, very elegant.

This story is well written, it is not predictable as you watch from the beginning. And it seems that it could be just anyone's problem, whether it happened in France or in the US. There will always be parents like them, and sons like those two. And that is what is so great about this TV show, real life like story. well done!

Laurent (a vibrant Cyrille Thouvenin) is a 23-year-old agricultural student in Lille (with a passion for poetry) who knows he's gay but lets his parents think he's straight and that his roommate Carole (a sweet Caroline Veyt) is his future wife. He's held in this bind by the fact that a gay cousin, Marc, who was like a brother to him, came out only to wind up dying rejected by his parents, an example of in-family homophobia that seems to have been all too well accepted by his own mother and father. Laurent has been on a downward spiral in school ever since Marc's death. Marc's parents are around at family parties, the mother a basket case on tranquilizers, the father stolid and still unforgiving. This angers Laurent, but the trouble is that his mom and dad, who run a pharmacy, are very dear to him. He loves his parents; he loves family; and he loves kids. But he's stuck in a charade. It's already hurting Carole, who's more than a little in love with him, though she knows full well about his sexuality.

All this has to change when Laurent is attached as a trainee (stagère) to a nursery and lab run by the slightly older Cédric (sexy, soulful Stéphan Guérin-Tillié) and they fall in love.The more grown up and independent Cédric is impatient with Laurent's playing the "little hetero to mom and dad." When he came out to his mother Emma (Eva Darlan) 11 years earlier on the death of his dad, Cédric said she could "take it or leave it." Laurent's pretense is exploded from an unexpected source. The film takes us sympathetically through the pain of Laurent's parents and Emma's efforts to help.

The special virtue of Just a Question of Love is its balance. If it's primarily from the point of view of Laurent, and secondarily Cédric, and takes pains (though it's joyful, not painful) to make their love real (without any explicit nudity or sex though, just passionate kissing), it's just as much about the parents' difficult journey toward understanding of their sons' sexuality.

A beautiful gay coming-out-to-the-parents film that had an unusually high viewership and almost universally positive response when shown originally on French TV, this has meant a lot to a lot of gay men, especially young ones thinking about love and conflicts with parents and the kind of "intense love relationship such as I dream of having and regret not to have had up till now," as one young French blogger typically put it. In IMDb comments that rate it, it has gotten nothing but a 10/10: enough said? Splendid performances by everybody, especially Thouvenin, Guérin-Tillié, and Darlan; this is far more than a "TV movie" and like some of the best contemporary French films, manages to be both elegant and emotionally direct.

With his looks and personality, Cyrille Thouvenin is irresistible in the film: he's always running and leaping, troubled, acting out, but also bursting with youthful energy and smiles. The restrained but warm Eva Darlan is also very memorable. This is the kind of film a gay man can watch over and over, with much pleasure and some tears. Doing so is also helping my French quite a bit.