Prior to different emancipations starting off in the 1960ies, many topics "normal" today were covered up or suppressed, or were handled and depicted in an off-putting manner. So were relations between boys in strict catholic schools, where tender souls and bodies had to grow up without the presence of females and much older men whose interpretation of purity and love did not conform to the secular grasps either...
In the film in question, we obtain a good overview with this, with bearing in mind that the events take place in France, in a "Southern- European" country where many expressions of affection and endearment are much more intense and common as e.g. in Northern or Eastern Europe. The plot has its twists, but the story-line let me, before long, guess how the ending/solution would be, and the plot was full of hints and references to medieval comprehension of love and romance. The performances were just good, not more - apart from Didier Haudepin as Alexandre Motier, who as a child, boldly presented a difficult and controversial character.
Usually, with the exception of e.g. Chaplin or Lloyd, I am not into black-and-white films, but here, as most of the events took place in the monastery environment, it did not perturb.
Les amitiés particulières is undoubtedly a distinct film, but as following decades have brought along lots of revelation and new angles as for monastery schools and gay issues, then, as it seems to me, the main approaches and dramatics of the film do not bespeak current generations any more.
In the film in question, we obtain a good overview with this, with bearing in mind that the events take place in France, in a "Southern- European" country where many expressions of affection and endearment are much more intense and common as e.g. in Northern or Eastern Europe. The plot has its twists, but the story-line let me, before long, guess how the ending/solution would be, and the plot was full of hints and references to medieval comprehension of love and romance. The performances were just good, not more - apart from Didier Haudepin as Alexandre Motier, who as a child, boldly presented a difficult and controversial character.
Usually, with the exception of e.g. Chaplin or Lloyd, I am not into black-and-white films, but here, as most of the events took place in the monastery environment, it did not perturb.
Les amitiés particulières is undoubtedly a distinct film, but as following decades have brought along lots of revelation and new angles as for monastery schools and gay issues, then, as it seems to me, the main approaches and dramatics of the film do not bespeak current generations any more.