Sebastian - Freundschaft oder Liebe?

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.

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!

A problem picture without recognizable problems has got a problem! "Sebastian" is nauseatingly coy, with unbelievably nice and politically correct actors telling us it's OK to be gay, you know - REALLY!! Come out, come out, wherever you are! The script is so superficial that it presents the (naturally!)pretty and likeable Sebastian with no real obstacles, and our hero emerges squeaky clean and happy from his "outing". Even gay activists reacted to this "painting-by-numbers" picture when it was shown in Norway. It doesn't even have the guts to show us any decent sex. As a propaganda piece for the easily bothered, it has its merits, as drama, forget it.

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.

Wam & Vennerød have produced quite a lot of gay films over the years, and this one proved to be like its predecessors, it was so bad that it was entertaining, and not in any way managing to send out the message it was supposed to in a fashionable way.

To make it short, the plot is realistic, but it is carried off with an extremely superficial and cliché-ridden screenplay. The acting is not in any way credible, except if we are supposed to believe that the mother is psychopath. The cinematography is nice, but there are so many scenes that doesn't have anything to do with the story, and should have been edited away, but on the other hand the film would probably have been half an hour long or something like that. I guess that says it all; a very weak story, but the whole thing is very entertaining if you choose to watch it with such an attitude.

As a serious film with a serious message, it's worth nothing, but if you want to have fun, see it! If not, see "Beautiful Thing" 100 times before you dare laying your hands on this one!