This is basically the story of a young man (Yannick Renier), who is haunted by childhood memories of his father's suicide and mother's subsequent mental breakdown. He is traveling to the south of France/north of Spain on an ominous mission that involves his mother and the gun his late father used to commit suicide. At the beginning of the story he already has two traveling companions, a brother and sister (Theo Frilet, Lea Seydoux). The uncertain sexuality of the protagonist is established in the opening scene where Seydoux's character does a very sexy striptease for him (that would have any man who's NOT very. very gay visibly aroused), but with no effect. He is more drawn to the brother, who is openly gay, but clearly he is sexually confused. A fourth person then joins the group, a handsome hitch-hiker (Pierre Perrier), who becomes a love/sexual interest for the nymphomaniacal sister (even though she is ALREADY pregnant when the movie begins). But this new additional too seems to have some bisexual leanings.
The combination of melancholy flashbacks, beautiful scenery, and gay and straight sexual encounters kind of reminds me of "My Own Private Idaho". This isn't in the same class as that one(although some might consider it less pretentious since it doesn't break into Shakespeare in the middle). It's certainly a "gay-interest" film, but just like the French tend to make "teen films" that also appeal for adults, they tend to make "gay-interest films that also appeal to straight people (thus the presence of the tres luscious Lea Seydoux). This is necessary, of course, because the French film industry is much smaller than the Hollywood industry and their films need to find a more general audience, but it sometimes causes problems in America. "Blue is the Warmest Color", a more recent gay-themed film (also with Seydoux) was rejected by some segments of the American lesbian community because they felt the actresses and the sex scenes catered too much to heterosexual male fantasies. But is it really a good thing for ALL films about homosexuality to be relegated to some "gay interest" ghetto where they cater to the gay "community", but are not seen by anyone else? That's a valid question.
It is a little ridiculous how incredibly attractive EVERYONE in this movie is. If Seydoux wasn't in this, I would have been seriously questioning my own sexuality since the three males in this are the three best-looking guys you're ever likely to see in each other's presence. The gay sex scenes in this are all pretty essential to the plot, but I'm not so sure about the three-way, nude Greco-Roman wrestling match the males all engage in during a beach party. But, of course, you could also say that about the striptease scene or the one straight sex scene. People will complain about "gratuitous" nudity, but no one complains that a shot of, say, a beautiful sunset is "gratuitous" just because it doesn't strictly advance the plot. The bigger problem is that Renier and other males are not the strongest actors in France, and Seydoux has been a lot better in movies like "Sister", "Farewell My Queen" and the aforementioned "Blue is the Warmest Color".
This is definitely not a great movie, but it's certainly an ATTRACTIVE one giving the cast and the beautiful scenery of southern France. And it's quite accessible as far a "gay-interest" cinema goes.
