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Wild Reeds
by Fox Lorber
| List Price: |
$19.98 |
Unavailable for
purchase at this time |
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DVD
Publisher: Fox Lorber
André Téchiné
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Actors: Élodie Bouchez, Gaël Morel, Stéphane Rideau, Frédéric Gorny, Michèle Moretti
This resonant, engrossing 1994 film by André Téchiné (Thieves) is an unusual coming-of-age story set at a French boarding school in 1962, when news of France's war in Algeria is still plentiful. Téchiné focuses on a handful of students, measuring their transition into adulthood against the reality of love, sex, and the war's controversial cost. Strikingly sensitive and sophisticated, beautifully dramatized, and perfectly acted by a young cast, the film feels like one of those universal touchstones for the final days of childhood grace. Téchiné's typically blunt-but-gentle manner is perfectly suited for this tale of youthful gains and losses. --Tom Keogh
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Where to go and who to be |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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André Téchiné's 1994 film about four students in Southern France during the Algerian War is one of the most brilliantly written coming-of-age films ever made. Studying for the baccalauréat, the famously difficult post-secondary education qualifying degree, the four students find themselves becoming emotionally and sexually involved with one another as they try to figure out just who they are and where to go in the next stage in their lives. They constantly position themselves and one another according to many standard markers of identity imposed by their social system--class, sexuality, politics, and intelligence--but they find these labels cannot do adequate justice to who they are and what they want for themselves. The articulate François (Gaël Morel) spends most of his time with Maïté (Élodie Bouchez), the daughter of his ardent communist and feminist literature teacher; although he tells Maïté he has slept in his dormitory with the athletic brooding Serge (Stéphane Rideau), she is happy to date him anyway because of her own anxieties about sex and men. Meanwhile, the older and disillusioned Algerian Henri, bitter at his father's death at the hands of liberationists, circles the group warily, cynically commenting on François's crush on Serge but longing for connection himself.
For a film as intelligent as this to work the characters must all be truly original--unable to be boxed as "working class" or "bourgeois," "intelligent" or "dumb," "fascist" or "socialist," "straight" or "gay"--, and the acting of the young people must be at the same complex high level. Fortunately, it succeeds brilliantly in both regards. It takes you a whole to figure out who is who, but once you do the film becomes genuinely absorbing and poignant. You steel yourselves for the disappointments and loneliness the students must endure, and the cruelties they enact on one another; when two of them embrace near the film's end, you feel incredibly relieved that their defenses can be broken down and that they can express their love and longing with one another, even if fleetingly.
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| Téchiné's Wild Reeds is a quintessential French film. |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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André Téchiné's name is synonymous with great French films. He is best known for My Favorite Season (1993) and Wild Reeds (1994), both of which are included in the recent release of the Andre Techine Boxset. Set in a boarding school in the Southwest of France in 1962, Wild Reeds (Les Roseaux sauvages) tells the story of a ménage à trois between four French youths during the political turmoil of the Algerian War. François (Gaël Morel) and Maïté (Élodie Bouchez) are close friends who share a love for French cinema. Maïté is interested in becoming François' lover, but François is more interested in his classmate Serge (Stéphane Rideau). Serge is attracted to Maïté. Eventually, Francois and Serge have sex together, but Serge wants to marry his deceased brother's wife. These sexual interactions converge to make this emotionally-moving film an intelligent meditation on sexual awakening and the damaging effects of war on human relationships. It is as much a film about sexual turmoil as a film about political turmoil. Many consider this film to be Téchiné's greatest masterpiece. At the 1995 César Awards, Wild Reeds won awards for Best Film, Best Director (André Téchiné), Most Promising Young Actress (Élodie Bouchez) and Best Original Screenplay. Wild Reeds is a quintessential French film (much as American Graffiti would be to American film), and highly recommended.
G. Merritt
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| Exquisite |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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"WILD REEDS"
Exquisite
Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride
Probably more than any other film, "Wild Reeds" (Fox Lorber) tells the story of young gay love and it is probably the most popular movie that people still watch today...and rightfully so. Set in 1962 in the southwest of France, Maite and Francois are eighteen years old and they are simply friends. There is also Serge, a classmate, whose brother has just married to escape the draft and Henri, an Algerian. What happens will be discussed in a bit.
"Wild Reeds" is a wonderful drama which gives an insightful look into the lives of four teenagers in a boarding school in France. It is a complex and sophisticated study of burgeoning sexuality as well as a look at the state of French society while facing a war in Algeria and on communism which was beginning a rise among the university population.
There are several strands going on in the film simultaneously and the direction pulls everything together beautifully with lush photography and an excellent cast. It is also a brutally honest depiction of an individual recognizing and coming to terms with his sexuality and attempting to recognize and identify other people like himself in order to find someone to emulate.
The episodic nature of the film does not detract from the whole because the characters and conflicts are so beautifully rendered that there is a feeling of exuberance on the sides of both the actors and the viewers. The three boys, the main characters represent different aspects of the sexual spectrum with one being gay, one being bisexual and the other being straight. The fourth character is the personification of Algeria where war is raging.
What causes this film to soar above other coming-of-age films is its sincerity and honesty, the actors are real and the dialog is authentic. This is a film that will reawaken memories even though it is far away from the experiences that many of us had. It is such a moving film that it is said to haunt its viewers for years. What is created is a realistic and palpable universe and it isn't, by any means, an ordinary film about the wakening of adolescence. It is also a thesis on romance and a wonderful example of delicacy and fidelity dealing with sexual themes. Above all it treats love as it should be treated--as a superior, metaphysical statement.
The one scene that stands out in my mind is when Francois seeks out a shoe salesman that everyone knows is gay. This is a scene that represents the desperate search to destroy loneliness and lowliness of the gay lifestyle as well as the lack of postivie role models. Even though he does not get the ansers he seeks, Francois remains optimistic that he will find future happiness.
This is not a movie just to be loved but it is to be adored. It gives a sense of identification and not only deals with homosexuality but with many of the other peoblems of the modern age.It has deep political, psychological and politival messages and is a beautifl and touching film that should be at the top of every gay list.
In closing let me say that the actors are not the only stars in the film. The scenery is amazing and the soundtrack by Chubby Checker fits perfectly.
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| Good Film, but not outstanding. |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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First of all I HATE SUBTITLES. Some movies are just worth it. This one was ok, subtitles didn't ruin it, but it would have been much better in English. This is a charming coming of age film, but nothing in it just really reaches out and grabs me. It's a fun movie to watch but don't expect anything new that you haven't seen in a dozen other coming of age films. Very good casting, and the acting was very good as well. These young faces are pleasant to look at and their characters are portrayed in a very believable, touching way. The scenery is very nice and I didn't notice anything unappealing about video or audio quality. It is an indy so I didn't expect it to be top notch.. I recommend it, but would caution viewer to hold their expectations to a realistic level.
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| Great Film-shoddy transfer |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This is a modern classic of French Cinema. The transfer is beyond shoddy. I could not believe my eyes. What a shame. Not the
first time Fox has botched it.
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