<p>Ala Guirdie's gay art-cema spense story is pellg and dacly ndid s erotic charge, wr <strong>Jonathan Romney</strong></p>
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STRANGER BY THE LAKE (2013): FRENCH THRILLER IS BT GAY FILM A DE
* stranger by the lake gay film *
Guirdie has been makg wildly idsyncratic gay-themed films sce the early 90s, often set an imagary neo-mediaeval Provence, where portly elrly men tend to be the hottt love objects new film is more nventnal only that Guirdie has purged the overt goofs.
Stranger By the Lake is a gay art-cema spense story, set over 10 days on the sun-kissed, pe-forted banks of a lake – a cisg ground where men n work on their tans between torrid tsl the shbbery. "Stranger by the Lake" is the sexit and most elegant thriller years, and 's a damn shame stands so ltle chance of travelg beyond the niche of a "gay film" will probably get squeezed to.
Highlight of the upg Toronto and New York Film Fts, 's one of the bt gay-themed films a long time. * stranger by the lake gay film *
We never leave a sunny gay cisg area the characters are equentg—a lake, a beach, a nearby boudoir of bh—but our imagatn is kept alert at all tim: every image and every cut is unrled wh tensn. And while the latter enjoys Henri's pany, he falls love wh Michel (Christophe Paou), a sexy and myster Tom Selleck lookalike the entire beach is smten wh (he's like a mid-1980s gay centerfold rnate).
By immersg so totally the workgs of the gay beach, Guirdie avoid the trap of William Friedk's abysmal "Cisg", which prented s i as a eak show. There's somethg tremendoly liberatg seeg so much gay sexualy set agast water, sand, grass and stars the sky (you n image Walt Whman approvg). At the same time, "Stranger by the Lake" is an dictment of mastream gay culture and s fixatn on perfect, chiseled bodi (the muny immediately margaliz anyone not stereotypilly attractive).
Guirdie, who first drew my attentn 2009 wh the supreme "Kg of Espe" (a edy of a gay man disverg he's madly love wh a woman), is fely flirtg wh Hchck "Stranger of the Lake", and some of the cuttg is stantly regnizable as an homage. What starts as a gay idyll--naked men lyg languidly around a sparklg lake unr a hot summer sun--quickly turns dark and clstrophobic when Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) wns mtached hottie Michel (Christophe Paou) drowng his trick late one eveng. It's very much like the world of the 1970s, where the ia of a separate gay culture and gay life seemed very promisg.
Movie review: A potential serial killer shak up a popular cisg spot for gay men the tantalizg 'Stranger by the Lake.' * stranger by the lake gay film *
Guirdie shows an extremely sharp eye for how gay men lookg for anonymo sex behave public plac: the exchange of meangful looks, the exhibn of full ontal nudy, the temptatn to engage anal terurse out the open. The director said a Cann prs nference that thematilly he was fluenced by the work of Ge Bataille, and stylistilly spired by visual imag he had seen of the Fire Island P (one of the gay mecs the U. A slow-buildg, replete wh tensns and meticuloly crafted, “Stranger by the Lake” is as provotive for s ias about sire, transgrsn, exhibnism and narcissism as for s graphilly tailed scen of gay sex, which go way beyond what Almodovar has shown his most dac pictur.
The seem to be the qutns at the center of "Stranger by the Lake, " a quiet film that sts an unsettlg is a young gay man who mak daily viss to an idyllic lakeont beach that serv as a popular gay cisg spot. In this movie we enter the world of an isolated gay beach and cisg spot southern France (filmed at Lac Ste-Croix). Another moral (one that all gay men should pay heed to) is that problems often arise when two men start off their relatnship wh hot sex, before gettg to know each other at all.
Gay relatnships are hard, and this is one reason why. Dpe s msage, this world is shown too much tail for the film to be an dictment of gay cisg or gay public sex.