Stranger By the Lake
The film, written and directed by Alain Guiraudie, is set entirely by a small lake. One side is populated by gay men, some of them there to swim, others to sunbathe nude, and others to head up into the nearby woods to find sexual partners. One of the visitors is Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) who is looking for love but also strikes up a friendship with Henri (Patrick d'Assumçao), an older, portly man who sits off by himself, does not go in the water, and does not undress. He is not even gay, at least when he mentions he had a girlfriend who broke up with him.
Franck ends up attracted to a dashing but somewhat sinister man, Michel (Christophe Paou), who would seem to have drowned his previous lover. At least that's what we see, and in a moment of confusion, which I think his purposeful and complex, it's from Franck's point of view. We see him peering through the trees at two men in the lake, and only one returns, and it's Michel. But is that what Franck sees? Because he goes full steam ahead into a relationship with the man, even after the body is found an a police inspector come around.
I have no idea how accurate this portrayal of French gay culture is, even if Guiraudie is openly gay. It is reminiscent of descriptions of my friends of pre-AIDS New York, where men roamed various parts of the city, including the Ramble in Central Park, looking to hook up. This is post-AIDS, but Franck doesn't use condoms. Some men stare and masturbate. In one amusing scene, a man is looking for women. Franck tells him he thinks he is in the wrong place, as there are no women in this film at all.
Their is very graphic sex here, the kind that would get an X rating if there was such a thing. It's erotic and also somewhat moving, as Franck's love for Michel binds him even when he thinks it's dangerous. Henri, a sad but wise man, forms a platonic love for Franck that is heartbreaking. And, befitting the overall feel of the film, it ends mysteriously in darkness.
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