8.5/10
Stranger by the Lake, written and directed by Alain Guiraudie, contains some of the most frank and graphic depictions of sex I’ve ever seen in a commercially-released movie. It’s also a great movie, a slow-burning thriller that was actually quite reminiscent of the aforementioned Tom at the Farm. This one takes place entirely (over the course of about a week) on a secluded beach in France that gay men use for cruising. The protagonist, Franck, takes interest in a man named Michel just before witnessing him drowning his lover in the lake. At the same time, Franck befriends an older man named Henri, a visitor to the spot uninterested in sexual relations. The movie details Franck’s relationship to both and his own feelings, while also serving as an ominous metaphor for the dangerous and sometimes thoughtless world of cruising. I loved the lake and beach as a “locked room” setting (the characters arrive in the day and leave at night and off-beach events and occasionally referred to, but 100% of the movie takes place there) and the cinematography and sound design were stunning. It was tense, erotic, even a little scary…highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment