pixelglitterblue With everything going on after the SCOTUS ruling same-sex marriage as legal across the US, I went in search of a good LGBTQ+ movie that I hadn't seen before. When I came across 'Eyes Wide Open', I knew I had to watch it, both because it is an LGBT film and it involves Judaism, of which I am in the process of converting to (albeit a much more liberal branch). This film was full of nuance and poignancy. I know some thought it was too quiet, but I thought that it's use of body language over spoken words to convey the emotions of the characters was powerful, so much so that I opted to watch without subtitles on my second viewing.Maybe this is just my interpretation, but I never got the sense that Aaron and Ezri were in love with one another. Because Aaron was bored with his cookie-cutter life and Ezri was left jilted by his ex person, they both needed solace and escape. They found that in each other as kindred spirits of a sort. They clearly cared for each other, but was it love? I never got that impression. The penultimate scene in this film is, without a doubt, the first kiss shared by Aaron and Ezri. What struck me the most about it was the fact that Aaron seemed so on edge at the beginning of the scene, nervously pacing and fidgeting with his tzitzit. At first I wasn't sure what to make of that, but on my second viewing, it occurred to me: At some point between their meeting on the rooftop and that moment in the cooler, Aaron had made the decision to act on his feelings for Ezri. When that moment came, he was equal parts petrified and ecstatic. By the time these two men kissed, the tension between them exploded and the rest of the scene is so intense with emotion and relief that I found myself holding my breath. That was some damned fine acting.In the end, what I took away from this wonderful and saddening film was that true happiness comes at a major cost, and we must decide whether it's worth the ultimate price. Aaron didn't think so, especially since he had a family who depended on him, whereas Ezri had nobody. However, his relationship with Ezri not only brought him closer to his loving wife in the end, but I believe it also brought him closer with his true self. A+ movie. Would recommend.

OrlandoAT A great, very well acted, writed and filmed movie. A emotional trip that even brings us a reflection: the complexity of being gay in the very different cultures all over the world and the complexity of being who you really want to be. No doubt, a beautiful joy of the LGBT cinema. The film has a very polished cadence, and a very polished end too. Two points that make it shine. Actors do well. Dominate their characters in a realistic, touching and very natural way. The acting is another great achievement of this production. And since this is a drama, action causes the script to succeed. It is difficult to say whether a wider audience can enjoy this movie (which is already addressed to the gay community); should be, because the emotions it reflects are universal and represent social repression, which in many countries is still a common denominator.

sandover In chapter 32 of Genesis we learn how Jacob earned the name of Israel. This is the scene, according to the King James version: [...] And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.I want to suggest that the right way to appreciate "Eyes Wide Open"'s story and, especially, its peculiar pitch, is to view it as a modern day version of Jacob's wrestling with - Angel, man, or God, the original language spares us the need to specify between the three.So, why such a viewing? Aaron, an orthodox Jewish butcher, a man that as his name suggests is a mountain of strength, a mountain of a somewhat melancholic strength, decides to re-open his father's shop. We never learn as things progress up to what degree his stance is determined by clauses of mourning his father, and this is a dramatic ambiguity, to call it that, I appreciated. It is something I will return to.Next, enter Ezri a handsome young man who contrasts to Aaron right from the start, in a way that signified, at least for this viewer, the precariousness of the face. Ezri seems at a loss, and Aaron tacitly asks the stranger, guessing on his rootless state. Ezri leaves abruptly, in order to visit another orthodox Jew, arguably a lover that denies him, and, to cut the story short, Aaron takes Ezri as an employee.We then witness readings of the Torah, and Aaron's interpretation that runs counter to the rabbi's exegesis on matters of hardship. We should love the hard part, is the gist of what Aaron says, it is the hard part, the obstacle, that makes love love. This is a good counterpoint to silent long takes, when it is sometimes difficult to scrutinize what happens in the protagonists' heart and mind. But, I add right away, this is sometimes the point: what is for us the admirable adventure of plunging into the other's abysmal gaze or face, is also the limit that makes intimacy and privacy significant.Aaron's appreciation of hardship, and God's rough love erupts in a speech after rebuking Ezri's advances, but soon afterwards gives in. The rare happy moments occur in the synagogue and during Aaron's family table, that is inside a community.But the community grows reserved, then hostile; presumably the orthodox ex has spread the word about Ezri doing "a lot of charities." This is echoed in the gradual bashing of a neighboring grocer because he serially degrades the daughter of a respectable member of the community. Throughout the film there is a fine balance between the intimate and the communal accent, perhaps sometimes a bit too cool a balance.But then you have that stunning shot when Aaron, in front of his butchery's shop, cannot go on because he has a family, and Ezri responds that he has only him - then, after just the right amount of words we wanted to listen to, a van passes and upon his panes an ominous group of orthodox Jews is reflected, as a chorus in a Greek tragedy.But to cut to the chase, the most peculiar scene in the film is the exchange between Aaron and the rabbi, after things have turned nasty with rumors and talk that amounts to gangster-like, secular threats. What strikes us is the non-melodramatic voicing. "I am alive, I need him" he exclaims at odds with the way it is put to these words. And then the rabbi, peculiarly, nods in recognition, if not in acknowledgment of Aaron's stand.At this point I realized this is a new version of wrestling with the angel, and here I want to applaud the magnificently spare script, with its spiritual care and yearning. "I am alive, I need him," he says. He has seen the face of God, and has survived, like Jacob. He was dead, like his father, but now the name of his father can speak through him. It is also a shocking declaration because this "need" has all the unabashed, indeed obscene glow of being alive because of love. Or is it just lust? The film thankfully breaks down any dissociation between the two. Watch how Aaron clenches close-up his angel the moment he abandons him, just after they have mutely acknowledged their love ("I know," says Ezri); this is affecting and uncanny. It can also be helplessly funny if one thinks that Ezri, as his name suggests, did not help anyone.The film ends as Aaron halts to a ritual bath to purge himself and vanishes underwater. Why hint at suicide? This needless dramatic gesture literally denies the blessing, which means more life. It has to be this way? I wonder. Still, the film stands as a powerful ruining of the sacred truths running gender and religious persuasions that separate God and sexuality.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU Such cruelty is unimaginable, but so close to us. We are in a Jewish community in Jerusalem, one of these communities that live by the Torah a life totally locked up in that logic. A man gets married, has children, works all his life, goes to the synagogue every single time it is necessary, celebrates Sabbath, dresses the proper way, speaks proper language, kisses the jamb of the door when he is coming in or going out of a house, apartment or store. That's a very routine-like life that does not accept anything that goes against this routine, these rules, this pre-formatted life. If the man is a butcher his whole life and his family's depend on the community that must be convinced that he is pure, he is no sinner. And sin is all-pervading in this community. The result is sad in many ways: it is absolute solitude right in the midst and the heart of a human community, a solitude that kills the heart and the soul because the only thing that this man may desire is forbidden, and that is love, love from an equal, love from a man, love from another human being made in the image of God. That forbidden love is divine because it brings together two direct representatives of God, sons of God, Adam and Adam, full equality, the supreme desire of love, to love your equal, to love yourself in the other and let the other love himself in you. But that kind of love is banned by the Torah (Leviticus 18:22, "You must not lie with a man as with a woman. This is a hateful thing." Leviticus 20:13, "The man who lies with a man in the same way as with a woman: they have done a hateful thing together; they must die, their blood shall be on their own heads.") But at the same time the butcher Aaron who accepts Ezri under his roof is then in a serious dilemma when the people around him start being menacing and aggressive because in Genesis 19:5-8 it is said: "They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." And this means Aaron has to protect Ezri. But nothing is that simple and Ezri who has no one except Aaron will leave to enable Aaron to live in peace. But Aaron will not be able to live in that peace. The end is sad, very sad. This film is about that kind of bigotry against gay people, or even nothing but gay desire in the name of a law that is in pure contradiction with the famous Lot story that brings God's fire onto Sodom: the people in Sodom did not respect the law of hospitality, and history repeats itself. The people of this community did not respect the law of hospitality either, but God seemingly brought his fire down onto the host and the guest. Sodom upside down in a way, though in perfect order according to the Torah in another way. There could be a third way but it would mean to leave the community, wife, children. But we can wonder if the departing Ezri and the departed Aaron have not done just that. The film is great because it is delicate, slow and entirely introspective to the point of making the story unreal, at least to our eyes that are wide open and can't see no justice in that law of fire. When one was stoned to death in Jerusalem in the old days, he had to be thrown over the wall of the city, he had to dig his own grave in which he was buried up to the shoulders and then the people could stone him to death, at least that's how James, Jesus' eldest brother was executed. Times may have changed but our stoning techniques are maybe less brutal or bloody but they are just as effective.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID