Based on a best-selling autobiographical novel of the same name by celebrated author Phillipe Besson which was published in 2017 this film (with its double meaning in the title) has been dubbed “The French Brokeback Mountain”.
Successful middle-aged author Stephane Belcourt (Guillaume de Tonquedec) lives in Paris. He returns to Cognac, where he lived as a teenager (played by Jeremy Gillet) invited to give a speech by a luxury cognac distillery celebrating its bicentennial.
He finds that little has changed in town but connects with Lucas (Victor Belmondol), who is leading a group of tourists visiting distilleries. He discovers that he is the son of his first love Thomas (Julian de Saint-Jean). Their affair had taken place in their final year at school when they were aged 17 and gradually turned to love.
Moving between flashbacks of past and present, which actually feel like memories, the film shows how the young lovers had to make life-changing decisions about their futures. Lucas had never understood his relationship with his father, and Stephane still feels the love and hurt of his past love.
Award-winning director/screenwriter Oliver Peyon’s excellent script with cinematography by Martin Rit and great performances from the cast bring the audience a beautiful and touching story of forbidden love and heartbreak in rural France.
98 minutes.
French language.
Showing at Luna Leederville.
Watch the trailer…
