I wonder if Francois Ozon has lost his touch a little bit. This is the guy who made riveting, distressing, transgressive films like "Sitcom" and "Criminal Lovers". While he still has the ability to shock by showing you something different, I thought "Double Lover" was a tedious story aside from such moments, and the same has to be said for "Ete 85".
It opens with an extraordinary sequence of events. A teen is sailing in a boat which capsizes. He is rescued by another teen, who takes him to his home, where not only does his mother run a bath for the beleaguered boy, she also strips him naked and is plainly seen to be inspecting his goods.
The movie doesn't keep up with surprising moments like these, however. It turns into an undercooked story of a homosexual love affair between these two boys, which ends in tragedy, as they so often do. We don't see enough of the two of them together to really believe in or care about their romance, and the characters never really come alive.
You get the impression that the ending is supposed to be touching, but it really wasn't.
Ozon is known for his frank and uncompromising approach to sex in films, so it is a surprise that there's none to be found here. The movie literally leaves us at the bedroom door when the boys have their first night of love: the door shuts on the camera, leaving us stranded in the hallway.
It also introduces a charming, homely English girl, who we are later expected to believe has caused problems for the boys' relationship. But how? Perhaps, as a gay man, Ozon doesn't know how to cast a real femme fatale who could actually end something like two teenage boys' first gay romance.
It opens with an extraordinary sequence of events. A teen is sailing in a boat which capsizes. He is rescued by another teen, who takes him to his home, where not only does his mother run a bath for the beleaguered boy, she also strips him naked and is plainly seen to be inspecting his goods.
The movie doesn't keep up with surprising moments like these, however. It turns into an undercooked story of a homosexual love affair between these two boys, which ends in tragedy, as they so often do. We don't see enough of the two of them together to really believe in or care about their romance, and the characters never really come alive.
You get the impression that the ending is supposed to be touching, but it really wasn't.
Ozon is known for his frank and uncompromising approach to sex in films, so it is a surprise that there's none to be found here. The movie literally leaves us at the bedroom door when the boys have their first night of love: the door shuts on the camera, leaving us stranded in the hallway.
It also introduces a charming, homely English girl, who we are later expected to believe has caused problems for the boys' relationship. But how? Perhaps, as a gay man, Ozon doesn't know how to cast a real femme fatale who could actually end something like two teenage boys' first gay romance.