meaninglessbark
Departure is a masterful examination of four people whose individual worlds are in disarray. Young men haphazardly figuring out their place in the world, a middle aged having to address the truth about their marriage.It's definitely not a feel good film nor is it as heavily focused on the queer relationship as the trailer suggests. Departure is one of the better looking films I've seen in a while. Almost every scene could make an intriguing photograph. The film is realistically atmospheric. It's also one of the rare films where long shots of the characters just staring and thinking actually conveys meaning.The beauty of the film and the portrayal by the actors makes Departure worth watching.
drewzz
Excellent film. Beautiful backdrop of rural Languedoc in autumn, natural peaceful and unspoiled whilst the lives of the characters portrayed are anything but. I do not agree at all with those reviewers here who give the movie a panning. I thought it was very sensitively handled and there was a lot of authenticity and insight into young Elliott's first gay fumblings. Yes, some bits of dialogue and screenplay were a bit clunky and wooden, especially when the father arrived towards the end of the film. But I really enjoyed the interaction and exploration between the two young men: lonely young gay English lad bored with his mother on holiday bumps into sexy athletic moody young Frenchman , OK you could say it is 'cliched', but so much of our lives are unoriginal, but no less exciting when it happens to us for the first time at that age. I saw a lot of myself in Elliott.One of the most enjoyable gay movies I have seen in a long time. And the fact there was very little sex in it was not a problem at all. It improved the narrative. Less is more in this case. Well done Andrew Steggall.
jromanbaker
This film does not have a shred of originality. Juliet Stevenson does her best and as usual gives a good performance, but she stood alone. But I will pass over the inadequacies of the acting and get to what I think is the core of what is wrong. This is not appealing to LGBT audiences, and the badly done male sexuality will probably put off the straight audience too. Both stories of mother and son deserve more depth, and there is too much padding and references to 'art' such as Dvorak, Proust, etc, etc. There is a nod to Rimbaud and one of his poems about a shot soldier although those who do not know the poem probably would not notice. And water!!! What is it with supposedly gay themed films that we either have shower scenes, bathing scenes or something else to do with the element? The ending is water and I have no idea what was going on. Death by water or rebirth by water? In short, depressing and morbid. And why too did the father have to be gay? I thought of Techine, and missed his clarity. It is set in France, but no one seems to live in the village except for the late teen who is the obscure object of desire for both mother ans son. I cannot give this film a rating at all.
mstewart-56634
Andrew Steggall's lovingly directed first feature is a breath of fresh air in the British cinema scene. What at first sight looks to be a quite familiar LGBT coming of age story is turned by Steggall and his lead actress, Juliet Stevenson, into a far deeper and more engaging story. Elliott's (Alex Lawther) discovery of his own sexuality is beautifully framed against the collapse of his parents' marriage and their discovery that their lives had been based on falsehoods that, in some sense had crept up on them unawares. This is a film that will reach out far beyond the LGBT market and should do well across the European art scene. Very finely and delicately shot in the Languedoc region of France it establishes Steggall as a truly new voice in British cinema - not just composed and assured in the medium but with a distinct aesthetic of his own. It will be fascinating to see where he goes in his next feature - surely a larger and even more ambitious project.
AD
