Les amoureux / Lovers (1994)
Director: Catherine Corsini
Stars: Nathalie Richard, Pascal Cervo, Olaf Lubaszenko...
Language: French
Length: 1h 28m
A handsome 15-year-old looks to his worldly, adventurous, older sister for guidance but finally takes charge of his own life as he comes to terms with his homosexuality.
A relaxing movie with nice rural scenery. The sister is at first portrayed as some kind of a free spirit, but later it turns out it might just be a mask that she’s wearing and that she’s more troubled than it might seem on the first glance. When she returns home after some time that she’s been away, her brother is very happy to see her again and her presence makes their sleepy little town a bit more joyous (which later turns chaotic). We do not find out too many details about the sister’s past as to what exactly she’s been doing before her return home, where was she, what was her childhood like etc. so she remains a bit of a mysterious figure. The relationship she has with her younger brother is a strange one. They almost seem too close to each other, kissing and cuddling often and I found that a bit uncomfortable to watch, to be honest. That’s the thing I’d say I disliked about this movie (flirting with incest as well as some nudity scenes) because I found it unnecessary and pretentious.
But for the most part I think this was a good movie, especially from the point of the brother and his part of the story, because I would say that it truthfully represents the coming of age story of a gay adolescent trying to come to terms with his sexuality while being trapped in a rural town with very limited options for self-realization and self-fulfillment, and all the problems that arise from it. Even though I’m often not a big fan of open endings, here I really liked the ending to the brother’s part of the story (him entering the discotheque alone, appearing lost and confused as if searching for somebody or something) because I think it fits the general atmosphere and the state of the character at that moment in his life.
Rating: 4/5