L'inconnu du lac (2013) Reviews

• Bleak thriller puts the cock back in Hitchcock

  barkingechoacrosswaves2014-01-31

  I enjoyed "Stranger by the Lake" very much on several different levels. It features a compelling story line with plenty of suspense heightened by excellent acting and lovely, sensitive cinematography. However, this picture isn't for the faint of heart, so homophobes and prudes will want to give it a wide berth. The plot revolves around a series of inexplicable decisions made by Franck, a handsome, 30ish vegetable seller who regularly visits a gay beach and cruising ground. The beach is inhabited by a largely unvarying selection of men who are completely indifferent to their "neighbors" except for one highly specific service that they can, and often do, render one another in the nearby woods. The men exploit and are exploited with a ruthlessness that I found stunning, familiar and sad. This is a ground-breaking film in at least two ways. First, it is the most explicitly and unapologetically erotic art-house movie since Oshima's "In the Realm of the Senses," except that in this case all of the on-screen sex is gay. Second, it is really not a "gay film" in the sense that it is actually a story about human callousness and depravity. In other words, the gay characters and gay sex are almost incidental to the true message being conveyed in this movie: that human beings can be truly, and quite casually, inhuman toward each other. This is in contrast to many other "gay themed" titles where the "gayness" of the story line is the most important element in the film's identity. One could easily make a straight version of "Stranger by the Lake" and it would work equally well. Nonetheless, there is most definitely a certain "je ne sais quoi" in "Stranger by the Lake" that a heterosexual picture would be quite unequipped to deliver upon. If you like your movies strong, suspenseful, lyrical and sleazy you will want to make a point of seeing "Stranger by the Lake."

• Michel! Michel!

  Laakbaar2014-02-09

  In this movie we enter the world of an isolated gay beach and cruising spot in southern France (filmed at Lac de Ste-Croix). Like many of these places in Europe, in the summer the men often bathe in the nude and frolic openly together in the wooded area behind the beach. It is a lakeside sylvan idyll, complete with sunshine, lush undergrowth and wind rustling through the trees. The inviting water is warm, clean and clear. A small group of men - often the same ones returning every day – enjoy the natural beauty of this spot and engage in their cruising and sexual activity. Guiraudie presents this hidden world sympathetically, in a few deft strokes painting the complex social interactions that take place between these men. This is a specific time and place, but their interactions are universal and familiar. A fact of life, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous. The film shows us not just the nature and geography, but also the ritual. The parking, the path, the anticipation, the greetings, the undressing, the talking, the sunbathing, the swim, the gaze, the dance, the rejection, the acceptance, the embrace, the release, the farewell, the path, the car. Day in, day out. Franck loves it. You might say he's addicted to it. Guiraudie pornographically shows every aspect to movie goers, so there is no doubt what is actually going on. Seeing this is essential to properly understanding this erotically charged world. We also see how brutal and shallow this beautiful world can be. Human relations here are based on appearance and sex, and little else. Franck seems to be a nice chap, but sex is the thing, perhaps the only thing, that really matters to him. Only the hot guys get to do it with someone like Franck; the others barely exist. Franck lusts after studly Michel, but as far as Henri is concerned, Franck enjoys his company and nothing more. At one point, Franck complains to Henri that all the good ones are taken – yet available Henri is sitting right there, listening to these hurtful words. Down-to-earth Henri doesn't seem to be hurt though. He even tells Franck he's not interested. He's not into cruising. Why would he be, the way he looks? Some reviewers don't see much of a story in this film; however, the story is about Franck learning (or experiencing at least) that certain natural laws cannot be ignored. * If something is too good to be true, it probably isn't. * Beauty and goodness are not linked at all. Nor are sex and love. * The people you find at the lake are there for a reason. * Of course, people get hurt by all this. (It turns out that Henri was very hurt after all.) * And, if you become too much part of this world, you'll eventually end up doing it even with poor Eric. Our hero Franck is confronted with the ultimate dilemma: would he do it with a hot guy he knows is a murderer? Answer: Of course he would. The story is about Franck trying to maintain his balance on a slippery moral slope. Franck has no one to blame for his predicament except himself, although his incomprehension or heartbreak (I'm not sure which) is apparent when he calls out to Michel at the end. Another moral (one that all gay men should pay heed to) is that problems often arise when two men start off their relationship with hot sex, before getting to know each other at all. Gay relationships are hard, and this is one reason why. The relationship between Franck and Michel illustrates this dilemma beautifully. Despite its message, this world is shown in too much detail for the film to be an indictment of gay cruising or gay public sex. This is an honest gay film with profound truths about gay life and the human heart – for those willing to watch.

• An admirable thriller - but extremely explicit

  urbanlegend232013-08-04

  A very explicit French gay-themed film. Sometimes it felt a bit overly so - including graphic unsimulated scenes of oral sex and even a shot of a man, erm, climaxing. But I kind of admire the movie at the same time for not shying away from showing anything. The characters are intriguing and the film is beautifully photographed in long, uninterrupted takes and panning shots of the lake setting. The setting itself is one of the best things about the movie. Everything takes place either on the lake or shore surrounding it, in the forest behind the lake, or a car park. You become so accustomed to these settings that everything else outside them seems meaningless - for instance we never see what the main character does for a living, or the supposed 'happy hour' drinks many of the cruising characters in this film attend after a day on the lake. None of that would've been necessary because the film is all about the character's interactions with one another on the beach, anything else would've felt out-of-place. It's a brilliant choice on the part of the director and has an interesting, hard-to-describe effect on the viewer. The film also has a healthy dose of humor (the police inspector is hilarious) and several very intense scenes, especially towards the ending. Recommended, but not for the squeamish or conservative!

• Metaphor on risk-taking

  jimflemingnsw2013-10-19

  The film has a rigid repetitive structure: arrival at the beach; the walk through a sylvan landscape; arrival at an idyllic place where all the senses are salved by the beauty of the beach, the sensuous sounds of the water, the soughing of the breeze in the trees; the quiet return at day's end. And then the same structure to the next day, and the one after that, and so on. It is a metaphor both for the sexual act itself and for the inevitable progress from action to outcome. Franck's cruising is initially frustrated. He fails to hook up and then, when he does, his release is frustrated by his partner's insistence on safe sex. Soon, though, his orgasm is explicitly portrayed: le petit- mort. Franck subsequently watches the object of his desire, Michel, participate in playful swimming and ducking with Pascal. The play becomes rougher and rougher until reaching a devastating climax: le grande mort. Despite repeated exposure to evidence of Michel's crime (the abandoned towel and shoes on the beach, the abandoned red car), Franck embarks on a relationship with Michel. He even risks swimming with him - and their relationship reaches a higher climax than before. Franck is addicted to sex and has no regard at all for the risks. His fellow-naturists are addicted to sun-worship and have no regard for the risks to their skin. Henri is addicted to self-pity and has a barely- suppressed death-wish. The Inspector takes unwarranted risks in repeatedly interviewing a suspected murderer while alone and undefended at an isolated beach. Ultimately, Franck succumbs completely to his addiction and risks everything despite the explicit evidence before him. Is the film-maker alluding to mankind's addiction to consumerism despite the known risks?

• Amazing piece of filmmaking!

  landry222013-10-25

  Not much to add to the other comments made here, but I'll say that this film was pretty fantastic! It offers a keen inside view of the gay community living and cruising around the lake of the title. All the characters are dead on: the cute guy, the old queens, the pervert etc. with no judgment whatsoever. The pacing can seem long to some, but I quite enjoyed the repetitive installation shots. It mirrored the compulsive visits to the lake the hero makes, in hopes of finding love, even if he himself knows it's a futile quest. "L'inconnu du lac" screened at the FNC (Festival du Nouveau Cinema) a few weeks ago, where I saw "Interior. Leather Bar." (the James Franco and Travis Mathews doc). I couldn't help but see a connection with some of the stuff Franco discussed. Our objections to porn and graphic sex are mostly constructed by society rather than rooted in any inherently moral reasons. The sex scenes in "L'inconnu du lac" are very graphic but never gratuitous. They expose the mal de vivre of the gay men who visit this beautiful lake better than words could.