Come Undone
© John Nesbit
If you see Lifshitz's film as an experiment to capture the emotional content of its protagonist and put the viewer inside his head, the film works much better. In fact, viewers who prefer character driven films will likely appreciate this impressionistic film much more after it's over, but they'll still be trying to figure what the hell is going on while watching it. Attempts to make sense out of the film during a viewing will only frustrate.
Despite the confusion, the main factor that should keep a viewer glued to the screen is the acting, particularly by young Elkaïm. After so many banal first love stories, it's refreshing to see Elkaïm's honest portrayal of an introspective teen uncertain of his passions. His conflicts appear genuine and are acted out quite naturally, often with small facial gestures. Also effective is the more outgoing and athletic looking Stéphane Rideau, who acted as a possible bi-sexual teen in the more widely known Wild Reeds.
Of course, the U.S. marketing campaign for the French film relies on selling it to gay audiences for its "hot" guys and sexually explicit scenes. Although passionate kissing between the two men occurs a few times, only a few brief scenes would never get past U.S. censors to allow a more acceptable "R" rating: Mathieu's fondling of his uncircumcised member, another shot of full frontal male nudity, and a fornication scene on the beach. The only gay exploitation going on involves the advertising campaign that will attract the wrong kind of crowd. The ads don't even mention that the film contains subtitles!
Audiences expecting a dirty French film, or expecting a film with "feel good" pat answers about gay sexuality will be wondering what the hell is going on in this arthouse film. Forget about the plot. One of the film's strengths is that it allows a great deal of space for ambiguity, trusting the audience to sort through the scenes to piece together the confused Mathieu.
Go To Page: 1 2
