CinemaSerf

Aug 24, 2023

7.0

Writer Stéphane Belcourt (Guillaume de Tonquédoc) has been suffering from a bit of a creative block when he agrees to return to his childhood home to do a presentation for it's legendary cognac producer. Somewhat disinterested in the whole affair he is greeted by the effusive "Gaëlle" (an increasingly scene-stealing Guiliane Londez) who races around ferrying him from pillar to post in quite a frenetic fashion. Quite by chance, there are some visiting Americans at the vineyard and they are being guided by "Lucas" (Victor Belmondo). The latter man has a surname that triggers memories in the former and now we are taken on a parallel tracked story that illustrates forbidden (first) love from 1984, and offers a shot at redemption for both the younger and the older man. The story is gently paced and the acting - especially from Jérémy Gillet as the author in his younger years - is really quite potent. The story of bigotry and conformity - and the lifelong ramifications for all concerned of fear and shame is played out stylishly and set against a backdrop of conflicted history. A community that lives it's life largely as it makes it's luxury "elixir" - in a time honoured fashion - finds that perhaps the best from that time has now passed. As I watched, I couldn't help wonder just how many people actually lived their lives like this - stuck with an opportunity-free rural existence amongst a gene pool of relationships that was never going to satisfy those more creative, imaginative and , of course, gay who emerged! This is well worth a watch - and Belmondo is a dead ringer for his grand-father too!

This is a story told in two different times, one as two seniors in high school who fall in love, but their relationship does not last; and the other many years later when one of them returns to the town after becoming a famous writer. \[Spoilers Ahead\] One of the guys left town and became a successful writer and he is invited back to the town 35 years after leaving it to be a speaker for a celebration at a local company. Now in his fifties, he encounters the son of his high school boyfriend in what he believes a chance encounter. In time he finds out that his former boyfriend passed away tragically a year ago and that the son had deduced that he had a relationship with his father and secretly arranged for him to get the invitation to speak so he could question him about their relationship. When this comes to light, it leads to a confrontation between them. In time all truths are revealed and the writer gets some answers to questions that he had about what happened decades ago and he and the son part as friends. It is a thought-provoking story and a fairly good story that deals with unanswered questions and how that shapes you. It is not a happy story, nor does it have a happy ending, but it is worth watching.