In extremis

Gay cinema has brought us marvels. This is not one. Pretentious, scriptless, unbearably slow and meaningless, this is yet again a story of a hesitating man torn between being what he is, gay and the love for his girlfriend. A drama shot in an apartment among Parisian petit bourgeois. The story never really takes off. The film is a collection of preposterous dramatic sequences, filmed with attitude posing for talent. As boring as it gets. A disappointment even for fans of Gay cinema. The cast is quite good with early performances of up and coming Julie Depardieu and Aureline Wiik. Both of them cannot do much to save such a bad script.

The French title of this film is IN EXTREMIS (though translated as TO THE EXTREME) and means 'in desperate circumstances, especially at the point of death'. Rethinking the story of this interesting but problematic movie in those terms after viewing gives the cinematic effort more poignancy. This is a tale of the impact of family, loss of parents, dissolution of the core unit has on us all: in this story we are asked to exam the 'in extremis' state of such trauma.

Thomas (Sébastien Roch) is a hedonist, a handsome young man whose parents died in an Alpine accident, and a man who sleeps with both sexes in a confused state of true identity. He lives with one of his female lovers who has a young teenage son Grégoire (Jérémy Sanguinetti) whom he loves as a son. When the mother accidentally dies, Grégoire wants Thomas to be his guardian. Thomas' lifestyle does not lend itself to fatherhood and though he deeply loves Grégoire, by law and by proclivity he cannot assume the role of foster parent. Even with the aid of his prostitute sister Anne (Julie Depardieu) he is unable to keep the disappointed Grégoire from being sent to a prison-like orphanage. Thomas finds solace from his lover Vincent (Aurélien Wiik) and from his excursions into the bohemian all night orgies where he attempts to forget his promise to be available at all times for Grégoire. Eventually Thomas' devotion to Grégoire overcomes his hedonistic addiction and results in his aiding the boy's escape from the orphanage to move with him to the home in Ibiza his deceased parents owned. The story has a bizarre but touching ending, which comes totally unexpectedly, and revealing it would ruin the impact and message of the film.

Director/writer Etienne Faure ('Prisonnier', and 'À la recherché de Tadzio' which is included on this CD and traces the life of the actor Bjørn Andresen who played Tadzio in the film 'Death in Venice') directs his actors well but is less successful in finding the interaction of flashbacks, fantasies, graphic indulgences and superimposed poetry inundated with noisy music. But given these distractions the film still makes a simple case for the significance of family - genetic and extended - and therein is the power of the story. This is obviously the work of a young director with copious ideas about film and as such one can forgive many of the early experimental indulgences because the heart is in the right place. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp

The story is about a stupidly indulgent young man who is virtually inured to the pain of those who love him simply because he will not grow up. The acting is excellent, the boy playing Greg is particularly good. However, the endless cigarette smoking (surely even the French don't light up as often as the leads in his film) is exasperating in this frustrating and often tedious film. Unless the audience has considerable sympathy for characters like Thomas, the time spent watching the film is wasted. Watching attractive people with their whole lives in front of them drink, sniff coke and generally over indulge themselves is boring, boring, boring. Even the ambiguous ending offers little in the way of hope or redemption.

While this was an interesting French film, it was both visually curious and emotionally unsettling throughout. The cast did an excellent job with what they were given to work with but therein lies the challenge. The script bounced about and the lighting was so dark, it made following a bit much at times. The ending left much to be desired as it resolved so little. So many plot points had been created but infinitely neglected. I didn't dislike the film. It simply left me hoping for a more substantial denouement. Still, I'd recommend this film if asked. But I would make the viewers aware it's more thoughts and feelings (for all of the characters) than a fully fleshed out story.

You could watch this film just for the eye candy, or for the literary quotations, or for the art exhibits; but don't expect soft porn or high poetry, you won't find such excitements. Most of the time the scenes are too dark anyway.

I think this is a story of continuous meaningless deaths, of people who get bonded by them, of incompatible relations, and of desperate attempts to make sense of all this.

Two orphans are in love, but live and have sex with others; two sex dates love him but are not loved back. When a kid loves him as a father, and is loved back, everyone makes their choices at last, but the solution is too good to be true...