This powerful drama about the difficult road faced by a gay couple when one partner faces a prison sentence is anchored with two superb lead performances in the roles of two very flawed, but ultimately sympathetic individuals.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Program 15: Beyond the Walls (Hors les Murs)
This powerful drama about the difficult road faced by a gay couple when one partner faces a prison sentence is anchored with two superb lead performances in the roles of two very flawed, but ultimately sympathetic individuals.
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Heartbreaking in its characterization of how one error in judgement in life can cruelly change things forever. Well-acted and affecting. This was one of my more favorite films so far in the festival, although not a happy one in its resolution.
I remember when I watched this the first time, it being a French film, I was dreading the many possible outcomes of that final hotel rendezvous. Especially that there was a balcony involved. But I was relieved it went another route. I was satisfied (yet heartbroken) with the ending. A happy one would have ruined the integrity of the story.
There were several portions of this film that were heartbreaking and odd. The antics and motivations of the main character are so broadly skewed as to be almost totally unbelievable.
The most distracting part to me were the jumps in stages in the relationship(s), without any significant depth or much in the way of an indicator that time changed. There were only two clear time changes, one involving a holiday (which was easily missed as there was no set starting time/season), and the mention of how long one would be away.
It may have been a cultural thing as well, but even with my limited knowledge, I don't think so. Do older French men generally simply accept a younger courter moving in with them? Wouldn't most be put off by the initial "take care of me" attitude? And for someone to go from being a ping-pong ball in the wind to being so steadfast as to take huge chances, in an undetermined but guess-ably short time frame? Even after having moved on? And then to go the opposite way in an equally short time frame?
Overall, it was a nice movie. But it could have been much better with just a few more hints thrown in to indicate they dated more than a week before the move in and/or the incodent.
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