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Les Roseaux Sauvages (French) [Wild Reeds]

It will be wrong to completely classify this film in the gay themed category. This i smog alike a coming of age film, in which a group of teenagers discover themselves amongst things that are going on around them. 3 boy son the verge of manhood and a girl in between. The interactions between the 4 protagonists forms the crux of the story.

Francois and Maite are close friends but not lovers. Maite likes him but she knows she is not in love with him. One night Francois discovers he is gay, when he is seduced by an athletic guy Serge from his class. Serge i snot gay. It is just a sexual adventure for him in school. But post this encounter, the 2 of them become good friends and Francois keeps hoping that something more will follow. We also meet Henri, who is originally from Algeria, a couple of years older than the others and is try cynical. He ultimately ends up falling in love with Maite, who is supposed to be his enemy and a hated communist. Francois is also attracted to Henri but does nothing about it. Serge breaks his relationship with Francois on the pretext of marrying his dead brother's wife and staying in the village. He is also secretly in love with Maite. The film ends up no one finding true love ultimately. Maite doesn't reciprocate Serge's love. Henri and Maite make out and have sex but cannot be together since Henri is leaving town and Francois will have to move on to find his true partner in life.

The film came out in early 90's and hence the setting i smote from that era. The actors chosen to portray these characters were just right and they had an innocent charm about them that the teenager characters demanded. The scene where Francois meets an older gay gentleman and wants his advice is done very well. It represents the desperate search for a way to destroy the lowliness, incomprehension, and lack of role models that are destined by his sexual orientation. Many of the viewers would be able to identify with the characters because we all would have faced one or more of the preachments that our protagonists in this film are facing. The kids handle the struggles in the typical manner of kids. Sometimes they don't handle them very well and other times they show remarkable grace and common sense.

I would recommend to watch this, except don't expect too much of a gay theme is this film. (6/10)

Comments

ILHiker said…
I rewatched this one today. I remember being impressed by it but not loving it when I first saw it back in the 90s. I hadn't had the opportunity to see many foreign movies and had joined a mail order video rental club in order to do so. There was a lot I didn't remember but my experience was much the same. I agree the young actors were great, and I like the pacing of the movie. It was a little more talky and cerebral for me to have a big emotional response to, but well written and well made. I would say, an excellent movie just not quite to my taste. It was also wonderful for its time, to have a movie with gay characters not be solely about being gay or homophobia or having AIDS. I notice on imdb that the boy in the lead did a lot of writing and directing and worked several more times with the actor who played Serge. Somehow that feels like a satisfying conclusion to the movie.
ILHiker said…
Whoa...IMDB mentioned the two boys had acted together in another movie, Loin (Far Away) from 2001. Same director as Wild Reeds and the names of their characters are the same. I don't see any mention of it as being a sequel. I'll have to see if I can track it down.
Golu said…
Gosh! This review for 10 years back. Honestly I don't even remember much of the film, but I wonder of the Loin film with same actors and director was probably a working title before the film was officially released as this.

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