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Presque Rien [2001] [DVD] starring: Jérémie Elkaïm, Stephane Rideau, Dominique Reymond, Nils Ohlund

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Rating: - A Brutally Honest Film

Presque Rien is a showcase for the underexplored side of first love, with the added confusion of a burgeoning sexuality. In many films the 'boy meets boy' plot is viewed through a fairy tale perspective, where potentially troubling issues are easy to reach a conclusion. Presque Rien is not this kind of easy film.

The narrative follows Mathieu and his relationship with a youth he meets on holiday, Cedric, and the aftermath of it. As someone who has experienced many of the same things as the protagonist, the realistic nature of aspects that many other filmmakers ignore made the film anything but easy to watch, but you keep watching because you care for Mathieu, he is obviously a fragile, uneasy person, and Jeremie Elkaim deserves much praise for his delicate portrayal of the varied emotions he displays here, lust, 'love', despair, determination and hope all form part of this tour de force of a film.

As with any teenage relationship, sex plays a large role in the film, and some of the sex scenes are explicit, and the male leads seem to spend most of the film in various states of undress, so anyone wary of this may find it best to avoid this film. If not, see this film, a film that makes its gay teenagers much more than either victims or queens. See it.

Rating: - Long hot summers

This is modern French art house, with the production values of Gus van Sant and the depth of Almodóvar, a truly beautifully studied and moving film. The characters of Mathieu and Céderic are cleverly poised the confusion of one and the surity of the other working brilliantly against each other. The tragedy of lost love is felt strongly throughout. Sit down, relax and enjoy.

Rating: - Romantic film

Two boys who met and fall in love told in flaskback.
With English subtitles. This is not a mushy story, but one that's near the truth. Very good film.

Rating: - A classic of the future

This film is well worth watching. Not only does it show the passion of young love it also shows the pain it can bring. It can be hard to follow at times but you are well rewarded at the end and you are left feeling that this will become a gay classic. The german version on the DVD also has a bonus film which does not come up if you go in under the English version.

Rating: - Like nothing I've seen before

I don't know what to say about this film. It is so encapturing yet at the same time frustrating! This film is by no means for those of little imagination - this film has been cut to make the viewer decide what has happened for him/herself so if you think you're going to get a nice tidy ending from this film, think again. The film is interweaved between three parts of the main character's (Mathieu) life but I won't even go into that here as that would take all year to explain. It is a film that deals with the start of a great romance but then moves into more bitter territory (flashbacks in between, all over the place!) but it is when you get to the bitter part that the film stops providing the answers and you have to make your own. My review probably sounds derogatory - it is not as this film is so captivating that it could never be anything less than brilliant. All I will say is - prepare to think, think hard, before you watch this as it will be on your mind long after the first viewing.

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