The film is not to say that outstanding, but masterful, in its soft dimension, there is a clear handwriting of the artist, who, like a good teacher, explains the complex in simple. “The Stranger...” was awarded the Palm Branch for directing and is completely deserved, I have always been saddened by films where the lack of a plot-shaped concept is masked by beautiful nature, but in this film the wonderful lake is like another of three scenery on the stage. The other two are a “chumazic” fishing line and a “parking” next to it and nothing else, only actors and dialogue.
The “glass of water” theory, which deliberately protrudes in the initial stages of the story, is just a screen where the idea that having sex is like drinking a glass of water, the desire for love is orphaned. An earlier version of the “glass of water” theory was George Sand’s statement: “Love is like a glass of water, given to him who asks for it.” Here the word love is naturally used from the point of view of carnal “love”, with which the characters of the film “Stranger...” cope with a hurrah. But can you get love if you ask? Of course, the question is rhetorical, but Alain Girodi skillfully emphasizes the disappearing silhouette in the darkness of the forest of the hero Deladonsham, when the light gradually takes the night, and only the “birds” of the collarbone remain on the screen. Here is the basic instinct of man - the desire to love and be loved, and not "water" to drink right and left. But what are you willing to do for the illusion of love? I remember a phrase from another French film: “Who among us is a monster, I ordered you to take off your pants, or you are ready to bare your ass.” Who is the greater monster, the man who commits a crime, or the one who closes his eyes to him? What will you do for the sake of beautiful eyes, or to put it closer to the context of the film, for a pair of eggs on slim legs?
For a not very smart viewer, Girodi weaves a policeman into the narrative, who asks himself quite simple questions in an even, calm voice that raise the most important moral and ethical points. In general, these unhurried, emphatically polite dialogues between the inhabitants of this “priozero microcosm” give a special charm to the film, so it is better to watch in the original.
The film is filled with humor remotely in its sound reminiscent of “Lie low in Bruges”, which is just the dialogue about catfish, or a sad lover of “Dunky Kulakova”. The overtones of McQueen’s “Shame” are also traced, in the context that one does not mind the dick, but Girodi here, in his simple and natural manner, easily confirms the “horse butt theory”, when throughout the entire story someone’s dick or ass flashes and stops paying attention to it. The theme of rubber product No. 2 is also very filigree and metaphorically woven into the plot, for someone “no rubber band, no party”, and someone: “and nothing that I do not have a condom ... – and nothing!” What is physical “purity” and what is moral?
The characters of the film now and then broadcast that they have a life outside this beach, but in fact their whole life, this is these meetings on the shore of a picturesque, you can say picture lake, where, as if in contrast, the invisible hunger jaw of loneliness has long bared fangs and digs into its victims. A lake of loneliness that you can’t fill with a glass of water.
Alain Girodi’s film Stranger by the Lake can evoke the most contradictory feelings and thoughts. Homophobes are unlikely to be able to watch this story through to the end, because only men will be on the screen. Men are naked, preoccupied with sexual desires and eager to satisfy them at the earliest opportunity. The director candidly shows what is in all corners of the world, this is a meeting place where homosexuals can freely meet and without any obligation to bring each other short-term joy. In the film, it is a beautiful beach by a lake in the forest, which attracts local gays. As a rule, partners enter into intimate relationships only once, without asking unnecessary questions or asking names. And tomorrow, it all happens again, only with other men. And so all summer...
In the bosom of beautiful nature, Girodi develops an intriguing action, unhurried and smooth, like the surface of a lake, which will constantly be present in the frame. The arrival of Frank (Pierre Deladonchem) will change the course of events. This young man came to the lake, like everyone else, to have sex. He meets a strange bloated man who clearly does not attract him in an intimate way. But the handsome Michelle (Christophe Pau) immediately liked Frank. You fall in love at first sight. Strangers are interesting because they don’t know each other. Frank's wishes will be fulfilled: the mysterious Michelle will become his lover. There will only be intimate relationships between men.
Speaking of the story, it is really interesting. Frank becomes fascinated by Michel and accidentally witnesses a crime in which the hero Pau kills his lover. And the next day, it’s as if nothing is happening: a calm killer is looking for a new partner for sex. The road is clear - Frank is ready. It is at this point that one of the main questions arises: how much one must be obsessed with desire to enter into a relationship with a murderer. Where did this man's soul go? He doesn't think, he's driven by stupid passion. Or does Frank like to play with fire? Probably both.
Girodi shows the contrasting relationship between Frank and Michel, between Frank and his beach pal. In the first case, there is only an intimate relationship, men do not know anything about each other. In the second, Frank finds an interesting person in an unattractive person, with whom you can just talk or silently look at the lake. Why is there no sexual and emotional connection with one person? Girodi shows a small homosexual world, in which there is a business only for carnal pleasures. Dating people are not interested in each other, it is much more important for them to have sex. The words of the inspector who is investigating the death of Michel's lover are touching and horrifying. It is he who exposes the lack of spirituality of such relations, without condemning homosexuality in itself. The police officer is surprised by the inaction of others, who probably noticed the disappearance of the victim, but did not even bother about it. Ignorance of each other's names, indifference to the person, the only interest in what is in the pants of the partner, causes indignation and misunderstanding. Where's the world going? To be in each other’s arms, but to feel unwanted and alone, that’s really scary. Girodi could show a different place, different circumstances, but it turned out the way it turned out. A strong film about what exists in the world, and to be silent about it would be foolish.
Stranger by the Lake is an unusual, French, dramatic thriller of 2013 directed and screenwriter Alain Girodi. I remember the film well, because it is really interesting and unusual. I can't even compare him to anything. The director made something new and forbidden for many. This film is not for a large audience of viewers, it is for those who love “another movie”. The film has its value, and there is a viewer for it.
In this story, we see one quiet place on the shore of a picturesque lake. This is a place for the elect. Men come here to find partners, to have sex. The hero of this story spends almost all summer on this lake. He meets one full man and makes friends with him, but in addition, he falls in love with one mysterious, adult man. The hero witnesses the murder, but is not able to tell anyone about it, because the killer is the one he fell in love with.
Alain Girodi reveals a disturbing and tense story with his candid and unexpected film. This vague and immodest film turned out to be a dramatic, candid story for adults. The film is shot realistically with scenes of a sexual nature and constant male nudity. In the picture there are not just slick, erotic scenes, but scenes of pornography. This aspect does not vulgarize the film, but makes it even more piquant, sophisticated and compromising the viewer. The main role in the film was played by Pierre Deladonchem. He's a young, French actor, and I remember this movie very well. He played cleanly and enthusiastically. It is with his hero that the viewer goes through this vague and mysterious story. Christophe Pau played a mysterious killer with whom the main character was in love and kept silent about what he knew. This actor directly brought tension and some fear to the viewer. The director picked up the actors well, put an unusual atmosphere and tension in the film. "Stranger by the Lake" - an extraordinary and "different" movie: a French "different" movie.
Tomber en amour avec le meurtrier ... 9 out of 10
It is interesting to know that this film according to the versions of many prestigious publications was named one of the best last year. He also received the “Special Look” prize at Cannes. After watching the film, expecting him to be “such”, you remain in some confusion. All action is limited to the beach and the staircase around the secluded lake. This is where homosexuals gather in search of casual partners. They swim, sunbathe, get acquainted with each other and immediately copulate quickly.
I can not help but note the realism of what is happening: it was shot very naturally and even, if not to say, documentary. A simple guy, Frank, comes here. In the end, Frank falls for Michel, such a typical mustachioed macho.
The film is generally leisurely, beautiful, full of naked guys (I emphasize once again: everything is very natural and realistic, so you will not see pumped up white-toothed handsome people) and even when a corpse appears in the lake, to the appearance of which Michelle is supposedly involved, this does not particularly violate the serenity of a small world.
“Stranger by the Lake” is generally a high-quality representative of the genre “Cinema is not for everyone”, unequivocally recommended for viewing by any inveterate moviegoer, but not by any means to the ordinary viewer.
Alain Girodi is one of the leading directors of French auteur cinema. In his early works ("Old Flying Dream", "King of Escape") he breaks stereotypes of homosexuality. “For me, making a movie always means finding a balance between personal involvement and the characters,” Girodi says. In this film, the director played the episodic role of a nudist, with whose replica the action of the picture begins.
Stranger by the Lake is a gay drama about passion, love, the mystery of desire and loneliness. Loneliness, which leads the characters of the tape to the lake, where the main events unfold. But the lake is not only a place of meetings, it expresses mystery and mystery, being a quiet pool of desire. And the detective story that appears in the middle of the film reveals human intimacy, helps to understand the nature of this attraction.
The types of gay people in the film are as diverse as the car brands they drive to the lake every morning. The Rabelisianism that characterizes all of Girodi’s films is also here. So, his characters in “The Stranger...” are full, thin, bald, mustache... but they are all naked and lonely, as a rule, satisfied with fleeting sex with strangers who do not even know their names.
Presented as part of the competition program of the Cannes Film Festival “Special Look”, provocative only because of a few candid scenes, the film of the current winner of the annual “Queer Palm” award is purely elitist art, mainly focused on the aesthetic self-affirmation of a narrow circle of people, therefore a priori contradictory and fundamentally inaccessible to another category of the public. The embodiment of sexual dreams of men, whose sexual preferences are relatively non-traditional, acquires the outlines of a kind of utopia, idealistic beauty of the world, where under the shadow of the trees of a small beach people are looking for only fleeting intimacy, are not burdened with the rules and conventions of the first acquaintance, as the author’s vision of modern morals requires, arrive in the eternal search for a suitable partner.
The picturesque corner of human freedom allows a few of their pilgrims to enjoy the shaky happiness of chance encounters, one - to gain a sense of self-importance, another - to enjoy the privileges of youth, but it is such an attractive model of relaxed relationships that significantly reveals the loneliness of the characters of the film, their futile attempts to avoid disappointment with reality. Immersed in the depths of desire, men indulge in deceptive illusions of perfect satisfaction, while the wall of their alienation, an unimaginable obstacle, once especially acutely felt by a guy in love, voiced by his lover, a passionate affair with whom turns out to be an insufficient reason even for a joint dinner, especially something pretentious.
According to the traditions of European romanticism, the hero of history is in exceptional circumstances, likened to the victim of pernicious attraction, because attempts to find the desired ideal are incomparable with the impulses of the surrounding society, driven by internal contradictions determines the intrigue of the film, which, as a rule, does not allow his plot canvas to be limited only to scenes of unsimulated sexual intercourse, an illustration of doomed male friendship. As a contrast to the carnal side of love, the inadvertent acquaintance of Frank and a lumberjack contemplating the surface of the forest lake turns into mutual friendship, indicates the possibility of another connection, where lust and passion are not important at all, and therefore has a much better chance of finding its continuation beyond the poetic, deceptive reality of the beach.
Closed by the surroundings of the forest, the action of the film does not allow the viewer to know the applicants for physiological pleasures closer than they can offer themselves, focusing mainly on the subject of their interest, deliberately leaves unsaid the part of life from which men successfully escape in the rustle of leaves and shrubs. The lack of musical accompaniment, the natural sounds of nature and its authentic landscapes help to plunge into the unique atmosphere of summer bliss and carelessness, make you believe in the necessarily happy outcome of the story, which will suddenly turn into a heavy moral dilemma, an involuntary choice between the embrace of a newfound lover and the fear of loneliness, as a result, shrouded in the mystery of the lake by the silent testimony of its eyewitness.
Somewhere in France, in a grove, near a small lake, like forest nymphs, half-naked men walk around in search of satisfaction, periodically stopping and looking at each other.
Frank, a middle-aged man, arrives at the lake like many others in search of sex partners, where he meets Michelle, a handsome but dangerous man capable of killing Frank. Frank seems to know this, but desire is stronger than reason, and the more Frank goes to lust, the more dangerous his new friend becomes.
The action takes place in a very beautiful place, a place where fornication and curiosity found their abode. The director does not confuse the viewer with unnecessary metaphors and shows everything in a rather simple light (as is customary with most French directors) in a leisurely manner. There is something innovative in this film, despite the presence of quite frank scenes, vulgar for some reason they do not seem.
I really liked the camera work, its divine beauty, I think these landscapes owe exactly the right angles. It is good that there is no music in the film, heavy male moans mixed with the singing of birds help the viewer to feel the atmosphere of what is happening on the screen, this is also a big plus.
Great movie! (in every sense of the word)
9 out of 10