Plaire, aimer et courir vite

Fundamentally ordinary yet incredibly self-centered, the characters in Christophe Honore's "Sorry, Angel" are not easy people to like. They are mostly a group of gay and bisexual men with complicated lives who find that relationships aren't necessarily what they're good at; even having a job, earning a living or just being 'themselves' also seem to pose a problem. The two main characters are Jacques, a writer in his thirties, (Pierre Deladonchamps), and Arthur, (Vincent Lacoste), a younger student, who meet, have sex and then go about the business of falling in love but find 'happy ever after' something of a pipedream.

It's territory Honore has explored before and more explicitly but this well-crafted, if overtly cool, movie represents something of a step forward if only in terms of style. This is a more formal, less kinetic, Honore but one still unable to shake off that sense of ennui. The performances are excellent but the characters aren't engaging. Also setting it at a time when AIDS was more prevalent than it is now seems like an unnecessary plot device rather than an attempt to get us to understand or care more about the people we see. Throw in a girlfriend and Jacques' young son and you get the impression that Honore is going out of his way to be 'cool' as if making a gay epic but one without a centre. Add a load of references to cinema and literature and you know exactly who this is aimed at. One for the fans, i'm afraid.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. It's not bad, but it's not awesome either. Some other gay films, such as « Call me by your name » and « Beats per minute », moved me more than this one. Moreover, this love affair sounds a bit unrealistic, given the circumstances (disease, distance and age gap). Fortunately, there are nice moments of tenderness (the reunion in Paris), emotion (the last scene) and humor (Denis Podalydès' choreography or Vincent Lacoste's striptease). The soundtrack features some good music, such as the delicate song « Les gens qui doutent ».

Maybe, the fundamental virtue of film is to demonstrate nothing. It is only a story about relationship, about choices, love, life, happiness and fall. Not for impress, not for be manifesto, it seems more a sort of confession to the viewer, exploration of pieces of life, delicate confesions and easy portraits of the imposibility to be the expected one by the other and invitation to discover, from other perspective, the life. No doubts, a beautiful film but, unfortunatelly, not the most convincing. But nice.

This movie really made me feel great and calm, it's cute beautiful and heart-wrenching. first, the direction, Aesthetic, and production are very elegant it feels nostalgic and greeting and the non-linear, original way the story is told is very captivating. a charming story about two totally different men and their not so love at first sight romance. a perfect portrayal of gay men lives in the french 90, clandestine sex, aids, and loneliness tackled with a warming and funny manner it's truly the kind of movie that puts butterflies in your stomach, the production, the direction the story and the acting everything is top. it's very touching, funny, heartbreaking and it made me miss Paris & want to go there. I had a wonderful time this film made me want to live again; to explore and love; the romance between Jacques and Arthur as unconventional as it is was pleasing plus Pierre Deladonchamps was very touching and faultless in his role. one of the best movies I saw this year

The world has changed a lot since the French New Wave. Audiences have shorter attention spans and don't seem to enjoy literary films as much. I gage if a film is too long by whether I look at my watch in a cinema or pause a streaming one at home to see how mich is left. I did neither on this film.

I was pulled into this film's world. It's yet another film that reminds me that I love the French cinema. This witty, complex, sexy, dramatic, funny, intelligent, literary, romantic, completely honest portrait of gay life in 1993, captured nuances of gay life not seen in American film. The acting is terrific.