Clips: he, he and another in a brilliant and true film

Yes, triangle yes. The whole history of cinema could be written by films inspired by more or less painful ménage-a-trois. But there are few (yet) where a gay couple undergoes a crisis from a person of the opposite sex. Someone remembers Californian Lisa Kholodenko’s 2010’s The Kids Are Alright, where mature couple Annette Bening/Julianne Moore are devastated by the latter’s meeting with Mark Ruffalo, their children’s biological father. His contemporary Ira Sachs (Memphis, 1965) brings the acting to perfection in this “he, he and others” film set in the glittering world of Parisian cinema. Beautiful people, beautiful houses, good taste, great intentions, including the desire to live life to the fullest, and high impulses and feelings.

However, all this beauty and this culture is not enough to protect the marriage of Thomas and Martin (the German Franz Rogowski and the Englishman Ben Whishaw, two of the most interesting actors in Europe who participated in a skill competition in which the most striking role of the traitor Thomas / Rogowski fatally won). “Do you know what I did last night? Sex with a woman. It was cool. I felt sensations that I had not experienced for a long time, ”he throws out, who, as a director, also occupies a dominant position in a couple. And Martin, a graphic designer and artist, controlled himself like a British wife in a 1950s movie: “It happens every time you finish shooting a movie. But then you forget about it.” Play for Martin, ball for Thomas. The rest will be stunning, but above all brutal.

Even if Martin soon starts dating a famous African writer (Erwan Kepoa Fale), even if Thomas does not stop looking for Martin in a saraband of breakups and reconciliations, marked by frank and passionate embraces, the story of the regal but naive Agatha, in the first place a school teacher and neo -loner (Adele Exarchopoulos, already a victim of Léa Seydoux in “Life of Adele”), soon turns to outright manipulation. With an unstoppable Thomas possessed by a deadly mixture of arrogance and narcissism, striving to live his omnipotent mania without the slightest doubt about his partners. Everything is written by Sachs with his faithful Mauricio Zacharias, superbly photographed by the Canadian José Deshaies, and brought to life by such brilliant and cultured direction and such truthfulness of accents that it is not difficult to guess the personal echoes in this film. even more complex and painful is the eternal question of same-sex parenting. Eternal, but not insoluble.

Sacks, a longtime LGBTQ+ activist, appears to be living in Ecuador with her husband Boris, an artist, and mothers of two. A documentary is needed. Maybe shot by moms or along with them.

WASTE
Ira Sachs,
France, 91′
4 out of 5 stars

ACTION! AND STOP

Only the illustrious Anac National Filmmakers Association seems to have sided with the Odeon, a Milanese cinema opened in 1929 and now destined to become a shopping center. EU funds and special taxes need to be urgently applied to platforms to save historic cinemas. Until it’s not too late.

Couples who break up after watching Barbie. Cosmetic surgeons are worried about a possible boom in extreme requests (such as filing ribs to reduce the waist). And so crazy. It’s been a long time since a film has generated such a wide and varied response. But what is the merit of a Greta Gerwig film or a doll?