I love french films; their movies provide great characters and intricate plots.

Here is the simple plot:

Laurent is a closeted gay boy attending college and studying agricultural engineering. His family is deeply homophobic and have inclinations toward exiling gay family members, like Laurent's dead cousin Marc, who died of Hepatitis (probably not from sexual activity based on the film's scenes, maybe drug use though). Laurent was close with his cousin and his cousin's boyfriend Alain. Laurent was on a self destructive path after the loss of his cousin, who's death he blamed on his family's homophobic attitudes and actions of throwing him out. What he doesn't know is that his uncle and aunt have regrets over their actions, but don't know how to express it.

(That scene hooked me to the movie, finally a gay movie with some meat and some humanity, but not outright Gay Pride or PFLAG message support like the American "Prayers for Bobby")

Laurent is living with his best friend and fag hag Carole to hide his sexuality during his time at college. Carole has a problem of falling for men that are absolutely wrong for her. After some soul searching, Carole asks Laurent if he could move out as she can no longer handle being with him. (Underneath her calm demeanor is a woman trying to help a friend, but I can tell she does love him and it hurts for her to imagine that he is with other men, despite knowing he's gay and accepting he will never love her. I love this layering of acceptance and desire.)

At around the same time, Laurent's father had an accident and Laurent discovers despite his distate with his family's homophobic attitude, he still doesn't want to abandon them by revealing his sexuality.

Enter Cedric, a brilliant agricultural researcher, who has his own complicated set of issues. His mother, Emma, accepts that her son is gay, but has problems with expressing her suppressed dislike of it. Eventually, Laurent moves in with him as a kind of live in boyfriend.

Laurent still keeps a lot of his family history hidden from Cedric, until Cedric had enough of Laurent's double dealing with his "fake" girlfriend and his parents.

I won't bore you with a lot of plot points, the customary "outing", and problems between the couple, but suffice to say there is a lot of plots and subplots that evolve the story.

Basically, Cedric's mother outs Laurent and Laurent in a fit of anger tries to have sex with Carole, but Carole knows that he doesn't love her and he stops. Then, Laurent over drinks and Emma brings him back to Cedric's home.

Eventually, Cedric comes back and learns of his mother's actions. He reaffirms his love for Laurent, who goes back home and confronts his father.

Laurent has a semi-happy/open ending in this movie, but he at least came clean and his parents need time to come to terms. Cedric has learned a lesson in caring and understanding about the people he loves far more, including his mother, who has not completely gotten over her own issues with his sexuality

Fin.

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C'est tres bien!

One problem with a lot of gay films is motivation, which I am glad this film does not fall short on.

Yes, a gay teen might be bullied at school or he's facing homophobia at home and the plot evolves from his angst. He finds a supportive boyfriend and lives happily ever after.....

I have no problems with any of that, but tell me, what are the parents motivations that make them homophobic? Does the boyfriend have issues in his/her life that motivate him, too? What motivates this relationship to form, get challenged, and become a true partnership?

First, the parents, I can see the old traditionalist culture being a problem, but beyond that, there is doubt in their motivations. That is something I absolutely love to see in homophobic characters, despite how monolithic gay films make homophobes as or evil, they do have doubts and uncertainty, because they are human beings.

On the flip side, Cedric's supportive mother has doubts as well; she is not a PFLAG poster mother, she has her bigotries and problems with tolerance versus acceptance. That is really new to gay films, I prefer it that way as well, because it shows realism. Our parents aren't going to completely support our sexuality, especially after centuries of cultural traditions and heterosexual norms. Even when they do attempt to accept

us, they will need time to come to grips with a foreign concept.

Second, Carole as the best friend, who loves Laurent, but has conflicting issues with him over her desire to be with him and her need to be loved by a man that loves her as well. Fag hags are people too and I like her character evolution in this movie, she is motivated by loce and desire, which are extremely primal emotions, but she rationally knows Laurent will never love her.

Lastly, I want to talk about Laurent and Cedric.

A partnership is not just a relationship, where one guy is a giver and the other is a taker, it is a mutual engagement of two people, personal, social, and professional. Marriages fall apart for the simplest reasons that somewhere along the line both people lose touch with one of those areas being an equal balance.

I am not a relationship expert, I failed at a lot of relationships and am lonely myself, but one huge issue I see from films and I hope it does not get into LGBT culture is this "social settlement" for what is available rather than finding someone who is willing to travel the journey of life with you. In heterosexual terms, simply put, gay films create "marriages of convenience", just enough chemistry to be sexually attracted to one another and not enough motive to actually be together.

Laurent wants to be with Cedric and Cedric wants to be with Laurent, they have a professional union, a social union, and a physical union as time passes. They can be playful, but the slow development of Laurent's interest in Agriculture (a boring major of study, but done well in this movie to show how even an unattractive field has merits).

Cedric also learns some hard truths from this movie, he knows that his mother has issues, he knows he love Laurent, and overall I think Laurent has also ignited his own need to grow as a person. At the start of the film, I think Cedric has been depicted as falling into a rut of mediocrity, which is slowly turned around through the film's development as he begins to be challenged by Laurent and his life challenges. Without personal conflict, character evolution would not occur.

Unlike American films like "Shelter", which I love as well, most of the characters in this movie are developed into human beings with flaws and strengths.

I give this film

10 out of 10 rating

Any other suggestions?