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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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| Poignant and worth watching |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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If you are looking for a classic gay-themed movie with a story, substance and real-life issues, then I think that you will enjoy this film. It deals with teenage coming of age, both male and female perspectives, gay coming out/acceptance, rural life, school life, friendship, love, sex and a host of human issues.
Well-acted, believable characters and storyline.
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| So much more than a mere `coming of age' story... |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Take four sexually charged teenagers and drop them in a steaming pot of cultural and political upheaval and you have yourselves a profound depiction of adolescence in director Andre Techine's beautiful `Les Roseaux Sauvages'. The film is a stunning example of raw and earnest acting, subtle yet honest storytelling and beautiful and intoxicating direction. The film sweeps over you with an awareness of self and complete control of its statements.
Can you say "moving"?
The basic `love square' is quite simple. Maite and Francois have been friends for some time and it is just assumed that they will one day become an item. They love one another, but Francois is finding his desires drifting towards Serge, an Italian schoolmate who returns his affections once and sets Francois off on a desperate attempt to `court' Serge (sort of). Serge, on the other hand, has dismissed his encounter with Francois and has moved in on Maite. He becomes enamored with her beauty and grace and charm and wants to be with her, despite Francois feelings on the matter. Henri, an outsider of sorts, challenges the trio's political views as well as their emotions as he warms up to Francois (in peculiar ways) and roots himself in Maite's heart.
Got all that?
But there is more. The film, while focused on the relationships between these four, also elaborates on their emotional crisis by incorporating a very real and very scary threat of war and their political responsibilities. With the Algerian conflict looming over their heads, these young men (especially) find themselves weighted down by far more than puberty.
Here is the thing; `Les Roseaux Sauvages' could have easily become messy, confusing and even generic or clichéd, but the rich textures in each character and the flawless way the actors embody the soul of their character's just elevates this film so high in my opinion.
Gael Morel plays Francois, the films protagonist (if there really is one). The film does seem centered on his emotional development, but the nice thing about this movie is that it doesn't sacrifice developing the other characters to benefit Francois's character. Morel carries the film very well, giving his character the needed amount of adolescent confusion but infusing more of a kind spirited need for self-discovery. His character has the most difficult transition (understanding his homoerotic tendencies) and so his character needs to be handled with the delicacy yet raw honesty that Morel embodies beautifully. Stephane Rideau probably delivers the films finest performance, really getting inside the rough exterior that protects Serge from his personal life. He goes through the motions (sexual experimentation, family struggles, death of a loved one, loyalties, rejection) and he plugs through with a believable and relatable spirit. You can see yourself in Serge. Frederic Gorny plays Henri, the most ambiguous and probably the most crucial character in the group. His actions throughout, but especially in the end, shape the outcome for the entire party and help establish the films central themes (of awakening, understanding, and maturity). His performance feels almost secondary, because his character is an enigma of sorts, but it is also the most haunting because it is the one you will think of most afterward.
And then we have Elodie Bouchez, the stunning beauty who plays Maite. Her performance is soft and delicate yet deeply poignant. Her final moments, especially with Gorny, are sincere and completely stripped of all gimmick or cliché, left open and supple for the audience to really engage with her. She reminded me of Pell James, who delivered an equally natural and stunning performance in `The King' (although that film is far from the greatness that `Les Roseaux Sauvages' is).
This is such a beautiful ensemble.
I have read the complaints and detractors for this film and I simply don't get them (and to the person who complained because he `hated subtitles', all I have to say is that your ignorance will cost you a great deal). I see nothing but purity when I watch this film. It is heartfelt and genuine and a film that I will not soon forget.
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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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