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Stranger By The Lake (18)

(Alain Guiraudie, 2013, Fra) Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick D'Assumçao, Jérôme Chapatte. 100 mins

Sex and death take a synchronised swim in this bold thriller, shot at a single lakeside location. It's a popular cruising spot, and the rituals of its regular (and regularly naked) male visitors are observed with a combination of frankness, lyricism and mischievous satire. But a more mysterious tone takes hold when newcomer Franck sees his Selleck-moustachio'd crush commit a terrible crime. The riptide of desire drags him into a dangerous game.

Only Lovers Left Alive (15)

(Jim Jarmusch, 2013, UK/Ger/Fra/Cyp/Us) Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska. 123 mins

Making Twilight look like Sesame Street, Jarmusch gives us the coolest vampires imaginable – too cool to even do much vampire stuff.

Directed by Alain Guiraudie and photographed beautifully by Claire Mathon, Stranger by the Lake has drawn comparisons to the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, and rightly so. The atmosphere is one of chilling tension and highly controlled camera work, with point-of-view shots being used to draw attention to the role of both the cruising space and the cinematic space.

For the most part, cruising spots are associated with casual, no-strings-attached sex. They offer a space where the everyday repression of sexuality is ignored; a place where individuals can explore their sexuality without fear of being attacked or shamed by the conservative hetero-normative members of society. Within mainstream cinema, cruising has been vastly underrepresented, with the leather bars of William Friedkin’s Cruising and the problematic space in Shame being two of the better known examples. With Stranger, Guiraudie goes against the darkened interiors of these films, by using picturesque exteriors that display nature and beauty.

Stranger by the Lake (2013) Film Review from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, a movie directed by Alain Guiraudie, and starring Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d’Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte, and Mathieu Vervisch. Having already played at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where its director, Alain Guiradie, was lauded with the Best Director [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Stranger By The Lake / L’Inconnu Du Lac [Sundance 2014]...

Stranger By The Lake (L’inconnu du lac) Strand Releasing Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: B Director: Alain Guiraudie Screenwriter: Alain Guiraudie Cast: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d’Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 1/14/14 Opens: January 24, 2014 One can imagine this movie done by another director as broad comedy. Instead of possessing the title “Stranger by the Lake” (“L’inconnu du lac” being the French title translated as “Unknown of the Lake”), the theater lights would exhibit it as “Cruising for a Bruising.” Simply put, Alain Guiraudie’s film, a meditation on homosexual attraction and death, turns on a murder done by one [ Read More ]

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Gay erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake wins Queer Palm at Cannes Film Festival (photo: Pierre de Ladonchamps, Christophe Paou in Stranger by the Lake) Writer-director Alain Guiraudie’s Stranger by the Lake / L’inconnu du lac has won the 2013 Queer Palm handed out to Cannes Film Festival movies featuring gay, lesbian, bi, tri, multi, transgender, etc. characters. Stranger by the Lake was screened in the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Set near an idyllic lake where hot-and-heavy gay cruising takes place during the summer season, Guiraudie’s sexually charged thriller revolves around Franck (Pierre de Ladonchamps), a young man who falls in lust with brawny suspected murderer Michel (Christophe Paou). Strand Releasing will handle the distribution of Stranger by the Lake in North America. Stranger by the Lake: Mixing explicit sex with explicit love As quoted by Agence France Presse, Alain Guiraudie explained the (purportedly) graphic sex scenes in Stranger...