New Wave

Gael Morel is far better than most other French directors who approach Gay/Queer themes, either directly or indirectly, and one of the few who has the courage to not hold back so as to gain the acclaim of wider, and often still homophobic audiences. For those who do not know his work watch ' Le Clan, ' ' A Toute Vitesse ' and the superb ' Notre Paradis ' to see how well he directs, and how well he avoids stereotypes that so often please to make his films universal. What a dreadful word universal is, and yet many Gay or Gay friendly directors pander to it, either not knowing or not wanting to know that EVERYTHING is universal, and that concentration on the male in film is as valid as any other subject. I must also add his direction of women actors is equally concentrated and superb. That said, and maybe this is because this film was made for television the love ( obvious to me ) of two schoolboys is far too muted, and the actors who played them a little too reticent in showing more of their inner feelings. And frankly I was more interested in Beatrice Dalle as one of the youth's mothers. She in no way conforms and her inner world shows clearly, and that is one of transgression of everything that a son's mother is supposed to be, and I give no spoilers about the savagery ( a gentle savagery ) of a sacrificial love that shocks to the core. What a fantastically good actor she is ! I would dearly like to give this a 10, but despite my longing to love every scene I found too much repetition of film within film, and the pace sometimes slackens. But this is a Gael Morel film and it is very close to being perfect. And the highest compliment I can pay him is that he is never frivolous.

From director Gael Morel, this story and its characters seem to have been reborn from his previous works, albeit in slightly different incarnations.

Two schoolboys form a friendship, one that overlaps traditional boundaries. One boy is a leader, the other a follower. One boy is determinably unconventional, from a middle class family, The other is traditional because he has seen nothing other than the life of a poor rural farm family.

The brother of one boy has joined the army, and Morel and (his favorite actor) Stephane Rideau show up playing teachers (literature and gym, respectively). Their appearance, and the setting and theme of the movie evokes other Morel films. In a sense, it leans on Morel's oeuvre for support. And it kind of needs it; this is definitely a minor work.

And as with most of Morel's films, there is a lot going on here, a lot of which is not completely spelled out. I don't think this is bad thing, but I liked these characters enough to have wanted to know more about them.

For me, Morel's work is always interesting, and always a cut above. I enjoyed this, though I can't honestly say how much was because of the film's quality or how much was because of the nostalgia Morel's work evokes for me.

{I saw this on YouTube in its original French with Spanish subtitles. I know enough of both languages to have understood what was going on, but I know I missed a lot. Unless you are fluent in either language, English speakers should look for it with English subtitles.}