Comme des voleurs (à l'est)

Lionel Baier (playing himself) is a young gay Swiss who finds out his grandfather came from Poland. He is suddenly smitten by everything Polish. One day he meets an illegal immigrant Polish girl, Ewa. He breaks up with his boyfriend and decides to marry Ewa so she won't be deported from Switzerland.

Lucie is Lionel's sister. While Lionel is a dreamer, Lucie has feet planted squarely on the ground. She is not pleased with Lionel's plan. On the spur of the moment she drives away with Lionel -- "comme des voleurs" -- heading for Poland -- "a l'Est". Presumably this is to convince Lionel to change his mind about the Polish girl. At this point we begin a mix of road movie, adventure, and personal discovery where the story of the grandfather is revealed.

The implicit joke in this madcap comedy is a Swiss wanting to become a Pole. Preposterous, people in Poland would say. Emigration is almost exclusively in the opposite direction.

A well-made movie except for a number of, sometimes jarring, continuity flaws. All the music, except for the pop song heard over the end credits, is by Ravel. The director states that he likes to use one composer per film. He felt Ravel gave the perfect mood to this story and I agree one hundred percent. Great choice. The director also says that he chooses the composer first then writes the screenplay.

The story is a mix of autobiography and fiction. Cost: one million euros.

A good swiss movie is rare enough, so I can only recommend this one. Basically, the story starts in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lionel is gay and his whole family is fine with it, he works at the local radio station. Around Christmas, he discover that part of his family comes from Poland. He gets totally upset with it, to a point where his sister decides to take him to Poland, in order for him to discover this country he comes from. This movie is just really authentic. All the characters are really touching, and you can relate to a lot of situations. Being gay or straight isn't the matter here, the idea is just to witness how a simple information can turn your way of thinking upside down. Overall : part romantic, part touching, part funny... A bit slow now and then, but that's the only negative point I could find... Very good movie!