Hidden Kisses

CinemaSerf

Feb 2, 2024

7.0

At times this does rather stretch the bounds of plausibility at a school in 21st century France, but the sentiment behind it is quite worryingly potent. A photo emerges of a kiss! We know that one of the kissers is "Nathan" (Bérenger Anceaux) but who is the other? What piques the curiosity of his schoolmates is that the other kisser is also a boy! Drunken game? Wind-up? True love? What now ensues does hit the stereotype skids once or twice as we discover his dad is a policeman (Patrick Timsit), largely unimpressed with his son's behaviour and somewhat pre-occupied with the gossip he faces at work. We now see a school where the boy is bullied and beaten with alacrity despite what I would have thought would have been intervention from an headmaster who seems more worried about perception than about a bloodied pupil wandering the corridors. When we do finally discover the identity of his paramour, the emphasis now shifts to that boy's parents. His father is frankly a rather odious individual, a doctor, who is disgusted by the apparent sexuality of his son and is determined to stop it in it's tracks. This latter scenario ultimately - as happens in many families - pitches one parent against another in a battle of wills as to the best way to respect or control the burgeoning identity of a child that is loved but maybe not as unconditionally as we might require or hope. It's the youngsters who make this film. Anceaux contributes strongly and convincingly as does Jules Houplain ("Louis") who also turns in an emotionally powerful performance. Some of the ample toxicity this film engenders is well portrayed by those who are his classmates - boys and girls - who epitomise a small-mindedness and a bigotry that the film quite successfully showcases then tries to hold to count and to shame. It's a ninety minute television movie, so it's unlikely to be intended to profoundly move the dial on attitudes of intolerance and homophobia significantly, but the lads on screen here deliver a poignant story that does make you think about what schools teach us that isn't in books.

This is an incredible movie and worth watching more than once. I won't give any spoilers, but the premise is a widowed father and his son move into a new school district and the son is nervous about fitting in, so he attends a party. At the party another male student reveals that he likes him and they kiss, but an unknown person takes a picture and posts it online. While the new student's face is visible, the boy he was kissing wasn't. This upends the school as to who took the picture and who the other boy was! In time you do get the answer to both questions and after much trauma it arrives at happy ending.