The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
  • Full Issues 
  • Reviews 
  • Features 
  • OUR TEAM
  • Info.
    • OUR TEAM
  • Content
    • Full Issues 
      • Issue #01
      • Issue #02
      • Issue #03
      • Issue #04
      • Issue #05
      • Issue #06
      • Issue #07
      • Issue #08
      • Issue #09
      • Issue #10
      • Issue #11
      • Issue #12
      • Issue #13
      • Issue #14
      • Issue #15
      • Issue #16
      • Issue #17
      • Issue #18
      • Issue #19
      • Issue #20
      • Issue #21
      • Issue #22
      • Issue #23
      • Issue #24
      • Issue #25 - Horror Week
      • Issue #26
      • Issue #27
      • Issue #28
      • Issue #29
      • Issue #30
      • Issue #31
      • Issue #32
      • Issue #33
      • Issue #34
      • Issue #35
      • Issue #36
      • Issue #37
      • Issue #38
      • Issue #39
      • Issue #40
    • Reviews 
      • (All Reviews)
      • Action Adventure
      • Animation
      • Biography/History
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Foreign
      • Horror
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Features 
      • (All Features)
      • Bonding with Bond
      • Double Exposures
      • Essays
      • Event Coverage
      • Lists
      • New to Netflix
      • News
      • Retrospectives
    • OUR TEAM
REGISTER
@
LOGIN
Features
5
2
previous article
CIFF 2013: "The German Doctor" Review
next article
CIFF 2013: "Domestic" Review

CIFF 2013: “Stranger by the Lake” Review

by Taylor Sinople on October 23, 2013

When the young and attractive Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) arrives at a remote lakeside beach somewhere in France, it’s with certain familiarity. Franck comes to the beach every day during the summer to swim in the lake, lounge on the sand, and sneak off into the woods to have sex with anonymous men.

Franck’s everyday schedule also includes talking with Henri (Patrick d’Assumçao), an older man of questionable-sexuality that stays just off of the cruising beach and stares at the water. Henri is Franck’s one true friend on the beach, but that changes when Franck first sees Michel (Christophe Paou), a strikingly masculine man with a thick Tom Selleck mustache that oozes 70’s sex appeal. Franck falls for Michel immediately, and finds himself unable to resist him even when he horrifically witnesses Michel go into the lake with a lover for a playful swim and return alone.

Writer-director Alain Guiraudie (“The King of Escape”) creates something of a Hithcockian thriller with the moody “Stranger by the Lake” – a film being lauded for its tone and whispered about for its explicit content. Indeed, the uncompromising rawness of the images may prove to be too much for some. An early shot of fully on-screen male ejaculation prompted a few immediate walkouts from the packed festival audience. Funnily enough, this shot directly precedes the game-changing murder scene that those more conservative viewers would find undeniably compelling.

Guiraudie does great work in building a sense of place in this glittering, sun-set laden, strangely eerie setting. All scenes take place within the confines of the lake and its surrounding beaches and woods, isolating us within this subculture we have voyeuristic access to.

“Stranger by the Lake” does feature graphic gay sex and pervasive, casual male nudity. The un-arousing, documentarian nature of these scenes works as a benefit by separating the film from the disposable late-night TV “erotic thriller” tag – this is the real deal.  However, the sheer frequency of lengthy sex scenes hurt the film when they begin to stop enhancing the story at hand. The weight of any film’s scene choices needs to consistently be focused on storytelling, and I can’t help but feel that Guiraudie occasionally wanders into the territory of producing provocative images for the sake of pushing limits that aren’t always supported by the narrative.

strangers1

The most relatable (and often humorous) moments come about in dialogue between Franck and the lone wanderer Henri. These two have the type of person-to-person friendship that’s lacking in the lust-impulse driven beach cruising. Henri, having recently parted ways with his wife, talks quite openly with Franck about lonliness, sexuality, and how he thinks “real” homosexuals act. As the film cycles through each day at the beach, Franck scans the rocks that Henri sits on to see if he is there and it’s easy to want him to be there in hopes at getting a few more well-written scenes out of them.

The bulk of the second and third act is dedicated to building overwhelming tension as to whether Michel will murder the love-struck Franck before a local police inspector (Jérôme Chappatte) is able to catch on to Michel’s first crime. We wait, on edge for the moment that Michel asks Franck to go for a playful swim.

“Stranger by the Lake” is no simple erotic thriller, it will do well at every LGBT-centric competition it competes in (it has already won the Queer Palm award), and deserves attention outside of those confines as an all-around intriguing drama-thriller. Guiraudie is not completely free from a sometimes-provocative use of sex, but his film mostly works and has lingering atmosphere.

7/10

Release

U.S. Limited Release: January 24th, 2014

Runtime

1 hr. 40 min.

(All Features), (All Reviews), Chicago International Film Festival 2013, Drama, Event Coverage, Features, Foreign, Reviews, Thriller
Alain GuiraudieChristophe PaouLGBT CinemaPatrick d'AssumcaoThrillers
Alain Guiraudie, Christophe Paou, LGBT Cinema, Patrick d'Assumcao, Thrillers
About the Author
Taylor Sinople
Taylor Sinople
Taylor is a Chicago-based writer and aspiring film historian. He is the editor here at TFP, and has contributed to a number of international publications such as Cinema Scandinavia, PopMatters, and Room 101 Magazine. He can also be found listening to podcasts, researching topics he has little use for, or running after a city bus.
You might also like
LGBT Cinema
 

A Fresh Look At: My Own Private Idaho (1991)

by Williamson Balliet on June 29, 2014
Somewhere between surreal depravity and Renaissance tragedy is Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho,” a visually compelling examination of unrequited love - romantic and otherwise.
 

A Fresh Look At: The Boys in the Band (1970)

by Williamson Balliet on June 22, 2014
Guilt is one of the strongest motivating factors in altering the trajectory of one’s persona. It can be a benevolent force, righting the ship after taking stock of past indiscretions. But perhaps more often than not it casts an anchor that plunges one further into unhealthy behavior. The guilt-ridden often seek refuge in the cause […]
comments
Leave a reply
Add Comment Register



Leave a Response
Cancel reply

Latest Articles

 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Taylor Sinople’s Top 10 Films of 2015: “The Duke of Bur...
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Heathers (1988): A “Wobbly” Kind of Beauty

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

View All
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review
 
Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato
 
Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin
 
Berlinale 2015: Under Electric Clouds

LISTS

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film
 
Six Must-See British Films Opening in 2015
 
Oscars 2015: Ranking the Best Picture Nominees
 
Our 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2015
Tweets by @thefocuspull
  • "Popcorn - check. Soda - check...I have a date with Netflix on Friday night." - Sherry
  • "[…] nails it.” I disagree, and frankly wonder what movies John is talking about. The original G..." - Dear Godzilla Fans: Please Stop Defending that ...
  • "[…] www.thefocuspull.com […]" - Annie Hall
  • "[…] more vibrant monologue or confrontation, like the dinner scene that comes at just the right time ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
  • "[…] of the year is also the stuff of a best picture winner. With Michael Keaton, hot off praise from ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
TRENDING ON TFP
   
Try a different filter
© 2014 THE FOCUS PULL FILM JOURNAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.