När alla vet

A film of astonishing emotional depth, accurately portraying real life and situations. Everything that happened to Sebastian on screen happened to me in exactly the same way in real life.

I don't understand what sex and bed scenes other reviewers are talking about-when you fall in love, if you're not a complete wreck, you dream of mutual attention and recognition, not just bedroom pleasures.

Sebastian's parents do indeed react very gently, but the shock of the parents, who in the best Norwegian traditions do not unleash their aggression on the child, is left off-screen. This is a genuine reaction, not theatrical. They simply believe in other methods of upbringing. Similarly, many people I know in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden practice such a gentle approach to children.

Yes, everything is exactly as shown in the film-you stand by the window and worry, think, talk to yourself, and still can't understand who you are. All the phrases, behavior, and thought patterns are taken from real people. Of course, not everyone feels and thinks this way, so not everyone understands that it is realistic-people may simply feel differently and therefore not understand this film or find common ground with it.

For me, Sebastian will forever remain a film of poignant longing, dreams, sadness, and sorrow about the fact that I never met such a Sebastian, but was him and experienced a similar story as he did with Ulf.

I was looking for this movie for more then a year. Now (1999) it is available in the original language with English subtitles in the Netherlands.

It is an excellent movie, especially for teenagers, which shows homosexuality as a natural choice or option when you are growing up. This is far closer to the real life then the image you often get from movies or TV. You can easily identify yourself with the 16 year old Sebastian and his friends. This movie will give you a good feeling if you are dealing with your sexual orientation.

OK, so there was no gratuitous sex in this coming out story. And too, there wasn't even any male on male kissing. If that's what you're looking for it can be found abundantly in some other coming out stories like Beautiful Thing and Edge of Seventeen (both of which I highly recommend). To me this story WAS sweet, and pleasantly so. It was kind of like a Norwegian after-school special--Remember those from the 1970s?

So I'll grant that it wasn't overly realistic. But at least it did provide a positive resolution. That's something many a gay teen in the 80s didn't think was remotely possible. In essence it was a squeaky clean feel good take on coming out. I'm sure there have been at least a few of those in the past and likely more and more up to the present.

So to sum up, in my opinion Sebastian is not nearly as bad as some would have you think. It's nothing deep, nothing profound--but still enjoyable in my book...There's definitely some fun 80s kitsch going on too!

I found this film very delightful to watch. It brought back many memories of my youth, which was not so different from that of Sebastian. Some reviewers give the film bad reviews due to the lack of drama in the film, and I can see how some people would expect much more from the film, but I still enjoyed it. True, at the end I was thinking "Is that all there is?" But the 2 main characters were so very, very appealing that I didn't mind. And the scene of them taking a bath together is definitely a must-see!

Nicolai Cleve Broch is one of the sexiest actors working today. The main drama of the movie is waiting to find out whether or not Broch's character is gay, too. I will not tell you whether he is or is not.

Only our friends in Scandinavia and Holland handle the topic of sexuality so well. I would have liked this film more if one or both of "the parents" had been somewhat more negative, making the film more realistic.

If you liked this one, try "Doing Time On Maple Drive", an American attempt at a similar plot, but I have to say, with more depth.