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| Gerard Blain |
His first film as director, LES AMIS (The Friends) features an
attractive young man, who looks rather like Blain himself, and his relationship
with an older man. We see Philippe (Philippe March) at the start having his
brown shoes polished, which match his yellow socks. Then he looks at clothes in
a shop window – this is a young man who appreciates the finer things in life.
Then he is in an expensive restaurant with his older friend, a wealthy
businessman, who is also happily married. Nicholas (Jean-Claude Dauphin)
returns to his country estate, with a present for his wife ….. It seems the two
men have a secret relationship which benefits them both. Philippe lives with
his busy mother who is always sewing or cleaning, while Nicholas finances their
holiday away at the seaside, and leaves him enough money for his horse-riding
lessons and hanging out with the local rich kids, when he has to return to the
office.
From what I gather Blain himself was bisexual in his youth and also had
an older protector, so maybe this is his roman a clef about that. Philippe is
actually heterosexual, and Nicholas does not object or put barriers on his
pursuit of an attractive blonde. This relationship is obviously benefiting
Philippe, as the older man teaches him and guides him and helps him to get
ahead. Some scenes though go on rather too long, like Philippe and the blonde
in that car, then next scene, he is back
sharing a hotel double bedroom with Nicholas (there is nothing explicit, it is all very tasteful), and then seemingly making a good
impresson on the blonde’s family, until she finds someone else ….
From what I gather Blain himself was bisexual in his youth and also had
an older protector, so maybe this is his roman a clef about that. Philippe is
actually heterosexual, and Nicholas does not object or put barriers on his
pursuit of an attractive blonde. This relationship is obviously benefiting
Philippe, as the older man teaches him and guides him and helps him to get
ahead. Some scenes though go on rather too long, like Philippe and the blonde
in that car, then next scene, he is back
sharing a hotel double bedroom with Nicholas (there is nothing explicit, it is all very tasteful), and then seemingly making a good
impresson on the blonde’s family, until she finds someone else …. 
APRES LUI, 2007. One of those solid,
well-crafted French family dramas. This time Catherine Deneuve is Camille, the
mother of a teenager who is killed in a car crash – his best friend Franck was
driving the car and the mother now focuses all her energy and attention on him
wanting him to finish his exams, and offering him a job in her bookshop. Her
daughter and ex-husband are baffled by her behaviour as are her late son’s
other friends, as she tries to hang out with them, going to rock shows,
drinking beer etc. Anyone who has been bereaved will understand this - she wants to do what he did to keep him close to her, to almost be him. The boy (Thomas Dumerchez) seems uncommunicative and baffled
by it all. Finally events go too far as they burn down the tree he crashed into
and they are taken into police custody. 
Its perhaps a meditation on how people
cope with grief, rather like the Italian THE SON’S ROOM by Nanno Moretti.
Deneuve is a sterling presence here in another good late role for her and it is
ably directed by Gael Morel, who played the lead in Techine’s LES ROSEAUX
SAUVAGE (WILD REEDS) (reviewed here at gay interest label) and has directed other films too, I am looking at his THREE
DANCING SLAVES soon. Morel
co-wrote the script here. Its absorbing though the ending is rather
inconclusive. 
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