<p>Ala Guirdie's gay art-cema spense story is pellg and dacly ndid s erotic charge, wr <strong>Jonathan Romney</strong></p>
Contents:
A stretch of beach and s adjog woods, which serve as a gay cisg spot, bee a crime scene “Stranger by the Lake,” by the French filmmaker Ala Guirdie. * stranger by the lake gay scene *
"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. 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).