Stranger by the Lake

Stranger by the Lake

2013 "He's closer than you think."
Stranger by the Lake
Stranger by the Lake

Stranger by the Lake

6.9 | 1h37m | en | Drama

At a cruising spot near a lake, Franck falls in love with Michael, a handsome and lethally dangerous man. Even though Franck is aware of this, he chooses to follow his passion.

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6.9 | 1h37m | en | Drama , Thriller | More Info
Released: June. 12,2013 | Released Producted By: Les films du Worso , Country: France Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

At a cruising spot near a lake, Franck falls in love with Michael, a handsome and lethally dangerous man. Even though Franck is aware of this, he chooses to follow his passion.

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Cast

Pierre Deladonchamps , Christophe Paou , Patrick d'Assumçao

Director

Claire Mathon

Producted By

Les films du Worso ,

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Reviews

helena-73023 I'm a fan of Hitchcock but Hitchcock, this is not. Hitchcock authored MYSTERIES AND THRILLERS. This is nothing but intense gay pornography. I'm an open-minded person who loves foreign, indie and all kinds of films, especially subtitles. But this was just...bad. I watched it through to ensure an accurate review. If you removed all the close-up gay scenes, money shots, oral and just plain pornography, the actual dialogue and story take up only 10 minutes. Moreover, it's incredibly predictable and left no plot twist. Then again, THIS FILM IS ABSENT OF A PLOT. The entire movie is nothing but a gay man cruising for risky gay sex at a lake which is a known gay hangout, at which time he witnesses a murder. There is no suspense. There is nothing but hardcore adult scenes and close-up shots of what's happening in those adult scenes. In the USA I'm fairly certain this would be rated "X" for adult because there's nothing but come shots in rapid succession...oral, hand, back end, anything gay, it happens here. But no actual STORY. I waited for a plot to emerge until the end and nothing happened, except for more hardcore adult scenes. Is there some secret message hidden in this film that I'm missing? Don't be gay because you'll get killed at a lake? Shoot your spunk to the left? I'm all about erotic but this is not. Just scene after scene after scene of passionless risky gay scenes at a beach. Another reviewer compared this to Rear Window. It is nothing like Hitchcock but NOW I get the joke! A million close-ups of rears in the scenes!
To_au84 I've read the glowing reviews, and read the many awards that this film has received and I just do not understand it. It completely confuses me.This film is devoid of any substance. There is absolutely nothing in the movie that would make it a thriller. If you call it a thriller, it's a thriller without the thrill. It's a drama with very mild drama. There is not enough sex to be a porn, and there is not enough drama to be a drama. It's just nothing.Sex is sex. I don't have an issue with it. Some of the scenes you think "yeah, OK, I get it, that's enough now".The whole film I sat thinking "ok something is going to happen soon" but no it never happened. The ending just irritated me like no other film's ending has ever done before. How could someone be so stupid. No one would do that.The 2 I gave was purely because the setting of Lake of Sainte-Croix was beautiful.
jadepietro This film is not recommended. Love may be blind and make us do foolish things. Such is the underlying theme of Alain Guiraudie's Stranger by the Lake (L'Inconnu du lac). The film's main character is Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), a lonely gay man cruising a nude beach for sexual coupling. It is there he befriends Henri (Christophe Paou), another lonely soul who has just broken up with his wife, and Michel (Patrick d'Assumçao), a hunky object of desire who happens to also be a killer. One relationship becomes platonic, the other quite physical. In fact, before Franck begins a on-going relationship with this deranged person, he actually witnesses Michel's homicidal act and remains totally smitten by his rugged good looks and unconscionably silent about the murder, keeping that small secret to himself.  Granted, some people may have no moral conscience, but while Franck may fall into this category, his unhealthy risks were more plot driven than realistic reactions to the drama at hand. The whole scenario seemed absurd to me. While there are some well-done scenes of suspense and tension, the behavior of all the characters seems totally contrived. The director seems overtly preoccupied with the homosexual theme, embellishing more care and deliberation on the numerous sexually graphic gay scenes and full (very full) frontal nudity rather than the mystery itself. This is a gay porn film masquerading as a murder mystery. The two genres never quite mesh. Were more time spent on the mystery plot and the psychological urges of sex and obsession faced by the film's underdeveloped characters, the film could have been more involving and compelling. Added to that, the purposely ambiguous ending only makes matters worse. This film never ventured further than the Los Angeles and New York area to help qualify it for Academy Award consideration for the Best Foreign Film entry from France. (It is now available on Netflix for your viewing displeasure.) In Europe, Stranger by the Lake has already won numerous awards including Best Director at this past year's Cannes Film Festival. All of the positive critical acclaim is the strangest aspect about Stranger by the Lake, an ultimately unsatisfying erotic thriller with some hot gay sex thrown in for good measure. GRADE: C-
ekeby At one point, after two men have had sex, they shake hands, as in, nice meeting you. If you're gay, like me, the absurdity of the situation may be familiar. This story of lust and death portrays gay men cruising and having sex with a clinical detachment that doesn't flinch. Clearly, many straight people will be appalled. But if you're gay, that probably won't bother you, but you will be appalled by the irresponsibility of the main character, Franck. He puts himself at risk every time he has condom-less sex. When he pursues and has sex with a man he has seen kill someone, it's no longer mere irresponsibility. That you're not sure what Franck's motives are keeps you from dismissing him outright as a Grade A idiot, but that remains a possibility up to the bitter end.I understand why this is seen by many as a metaphor for human alienation in general. From a gay perspective, however, it's not a metaphor, it's a slice of life. So I'm not sure if us gay folk have been used or been celebrated here. Made fun of or commiserated with. Maybe a little of each. The fact that it's not obvious is probably what tilts this film in the direction of Art.Granted, this movie didn't just hold my interest, it was gripping. However, as much as I admired the storytelling technique, it was tempered by a suspicion that the auteur's seemingly detached depiction of a part of our lives was in fact a moral judgment.