Der Mann meines Herzens

Strange summary but let's face it- Jean-Michele Portal's excellent portrayal of "Lucas" reminds me of H of "CSI: Miami". Nearly emotionless, yet full of passion. Too bad American TV is not as sophisticated. I would be willing to bet that nothing was said against the film when it was screened on French TV. Try that in America, land of the free? I doubt it. What are people so afraid of? People in love? Amazing. A magnificent performance by the entire cast. The cute little church toward the end was very nice, as was the entire scenery. Many thanks for a realistic story that saves us the fluff but provides closure and meaning along with hope. Nobody is forgotten. Merci.

After seeing Brokeback Mountain, I've been adding to my film library more gay-themed films. Because I'm a collector, I've been buying films I haven't seen before.

Some of them are simply awful in their script, acting, and/or direction, but remain in my library because of the "piece of history" they represent. And once in a while, I hit upon a truly outstanding film that surpasses expectations in all these ways.

L'Homme Que J'Aime ("The Man I love") is one such hidden gem. The story is moving, the characters charming, the acting believable, and everything put together by a competent director.

Like Brokeback Mountain, the story involves an ostensibly straight man falling for another man, but this time, the object of his affection is an openly gay man. To Americans, that may seem to stretch the realm of possibility too far. I lived in France for a year, and the plot line seemed perfectly believable to me in the context of French culture. Note also that this film was made for French TV... which tells me that the story was considered "mainstream" enough to be broadcast in France.

This little gem of a movie is available on DVD, and I highly recommend it. In French, with optional English subtitles.

An unexpected delight. This is a touching and moving exploration of both coming out and the tragedy of love.

Delicate performances and a wonderful sense of humour permeate the story.

Even Marseilles seems as inviting as the arms of Martin.

Despite the underlying sense of oncoming tragedy it does not overwhelm the beauty of this simple modern gay love story.

Keep an eye out for the pink Mercedes Benz. It adds a little touch of the absurd to the mix!

A film to enjoy and savour many times!

L'Homme Que J'aime - The Man I Love

Sweet sad love story but not depressing

My Rating 7/10

I discovered : L'Homme que j'aime)while looking for another film it had been incorrectly titled on Vimeo so I think I was meant to be reminded of those sad days when we all lost our "Longtime Companions ." This is a beautiful love story produced for French television in 1997 and later released at the Cinema in 2001 as well as telling it a love story between two men which set in the early 1990's in when AIDS was still a death sentence and same sex marriage was only a dream . This movie highlights the Political ignorance and indifference that delayed treatment for men who were pleading for medical treatment and care had to take to the streets to demonstrate .

The movie introduces us to Martin (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo), a brash pool monitor and resident lifeguard Lucas (Jean-Michel Portal).

Martin becomes interested in the younger and attractive Lucas but Lucas has a live-in girlfriend, Lise (Mathilde Seigner). Lucas is initially resistant to Martin's courtship dance but there is obviously a spark of recognition and realisation of deeper feelings developing between the two men.

Lise starts to integrate Martin into Lucas and Lisa's social life. Lucas then begins to doubt his heterosexuality and starts falling for Martin. But Martin is declared HIV-positive, which forces Lucas to choose between the terminally ill man he starts to love and his first love Lise.

The motto "Live each day of your life as if it were your last" is the main theme of the film.

It's a very touching French movie and interesting to see a European view of this tragic era during the last World pandemic when Governments acted shamefully at a snails pace in funding medical solutions and care to the me and women who were suffering in stark contrast to our current Covid 19 World pandemic.

At the age of 55, I've spent my entire life in the USA and have rarely had occasion to view any "foreign" films. In seeking out gay-themed films to watch in recent months, I've discovered that the majority of those generally rated most highly by voters on this site aren't made here (in the USA), and so consequently, fully half of the films I've watched are European-made.

For me, most of these films suffer from three faults: (1) They tend to me far too "preachy." It feels like every scene is trying to demonstrate some important lesson in life, making the movies seem more like a classroom on the big screen rather than entertainment.

(2) The dialogue, even when it's not attempting to teach me something, is awkward and forced. People just don't talk that way; the conversations are always so unnatural that they come across being emotionless, and I don't don't feel emotion in the characters, there really is no point for my being in the movie theater.

(3) The story line is of little or no consequence, since all of the emphasis is given to making a point (see item 1). As a result, I rarely develop any interest in these films.

This movie was an exception to all of the above. Oh, you still do get banged over the head with some commentary on life's little failings, but only softly, and the dialogue could be warmed up and made more believable here and there, and now and then you want to scream at the way Lucas treats Martin or vice-versa - making them look a bit like cold fish, but those momentary lapses didn't seriously impede my enjoyment of the movie.

On the whole, I can happily recommend this movie to others like me for whom an emotionally interesting and involving story-line is the #1 consideration for enjoying a movie.