When Jonas was 14 he met the charismatic but mysterious Nathan. In addition to guiding him in grappling with his sexuality, Jonas soon confronts something dark and even dangerous about his new friend. Now an attractive, sexually assured adult, memories from this time still haunt Jonas.
Félix Maritaud
Jonas (adult)
Nicolas Bauwens
Jonas (teenager)
Tommy Lee Baïk
Nathan
Aure Atika
Nathan's Mother
Ilian Bergala
Léonard
Marie Denarnaud
Jonas's Mother
Pierre Cartonnet
Jonas's Father
Nicolas Sartous
The Predator
David Baïot
Samuel
Julien Naccache
Grindr Guy
Edith Saulnier
Caroline (teenager)
Ingrid Graziani
Caroline
Marcel Bouzige
le garçon moqueur
Jean-Luc Rehel
le voisin
John Karalian
le mec du Boys Paradise
Peggy Mahieu
l'infirmière
Bernard Massoni
vieil homme malade
Annie Pardo
vieille dame de l’hôpital
Ali Pekoz
videur du Boys Paradise 2015
Cyril Bertucci
videur du Boys Paradise 1997
Daniel Lawless
policier 2015
Franck Libert
policier 1997
Matthieu Lestrade
professeur d’histoire-géographie
Director, Writer
Christophe Charrier
March 27, 2022
7
This is quite a well put together little drama recounting the life of "Jonas" through the twin threads of his late childhood and of a current day thirty-something. Félix Maritaud plays the elder incarnation in a typically gritty and plausible way (though he does look like he could do with a good meal!) with Nicolas Bauwens as his younger, largely conformist, self. My problem is that the narrative that gets us from person A to person B - via a new schoolfriend "Nathan" doesn't quite work. There is an incident, which we do discover at the end, but it leaves me with a feeling of incompleteness. Perhaps that's Christophe Charrier's plan - that there are no "happy endings", but I am struggling to fathom just how Jonas got onto this path of self destruction and his life, so out of hand in the first place. As with loads of French gay cinema, it is filmed at night - via street light - and is all the more evocative for that.