When Jonas was 14 he met the charismatic but mysterious Nathan. In addition to guiding him in grappling with his sexuality, Jonas soon confronts something dark and even dangerous about his new friend. Now an attractive, sexually assured adult, memories from this time still haunt Jonas.
Félix Maritaud
Jonas (adult)
Nicolas Bauwens
Jonas (teenager)
Tommy Lee Baïk
Nathan
Aure Atika
Nathan's Mother
Ilian Bergala
Léonard
Marie Denarnaud
Jonas's Mother
Pierre Cartonnet
Jonas's Father
Nicolas Sartous
The Predator
David Baïot
Samuel
When Jonas was 14 he met the charismatic but mysterious Nathan. In addition to guiding him in grappling with his sexuality, Jonas soon confronts something dark and even dangerous about his new friend. Now an attractive, sexually assured adult, memories from this time still haunt Jonas.
This is quite a well put together little drama recounting the life of "Jonas" through the twin threads of his late childhood and of a current day thirty-something. Félix Maritaud plays the elder incarnation in a typically gritty and plausible way (though he does look like he could do with a good meal!) with Nicolas Bauwens as his younger, largely conformist, self. My problem is that the narrative that gets us from person A to person B - via a new schoolfriend "Nathan" doesn't quite work. There is an incident, which we do discover at the end, but it leaves me with a feeling of incompleteness. Perhaps that's Christophe Charrier's plan - that there are no "happy endings", but I am struggling to fathom just how Jonas got onto this path of self destruction and his life, so out of hand in the first place. As with loads of French gay cinema, it is filmed at night - via street light - and is all the more evocative for that.
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Nathan, 16, lives alone with his father Stephane. A newcomer in high school, he is invited to a party and falls in love with Louis, a boy in his class. They find themselves out of sight and kiss each other, but someone takes a picture of them. Soon, the photo is published on Facebook and a storm overtakes their lives as they face bullying and rejection.
Two childhood best friends are asked to share a kiss for the purposes of a student short film. Soon, a lingering doubt sets in, confronting both men with their preferences, threatening the brotherhood of their social circle, and, eventually, changing their lives.
Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul. A few months later she moves in with him, but soon discovers that her lover is concealing a part of his identity.
On the outskirts of Brooklyn, Frankie, an aimless teenager, suffocates under the oppressive glare cast by his family and a toxic group of delinquent friends. Struggling with his own identity, Frankie begins to scour hookup sites for older men.
Fatima, 17, the youngest daughter of a French-Algerian family in a Paris suburb, leaves school for a prestigious prep class. She plays football, has a secret boyfriend, but hides that she loves women. In Paris, new freedoms clash with family tradition and faith, forcing her to find her own path.
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
As a shocking truth about a couple's families emerges, the two lovers discover they are not so different from each other. Tessa is no longer the sweet, simple, good girl she was when she met Hardin — any more than he is the cruel, moody boy she fell so hard for.
Three friends form a bond over the year, Johnathan is gay, Clare is straight and Bobby is neither, instead he loves the people he loves. As their lives go on there is tension and tears which culminate in a strong yet fragile friendship between the three.