This area by a French lake is a popular spot for homosexual men where they can sunbathe, swim in the warm waters, and if they're feeling horny they can disappear into the nearby woods with one of the other men for a session of anonymous sex. It is the holiday season, and though the area is not as busy as it can get, there are a few blokes lying around by the shore, so when Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) drives up at the car park, he is hoping to get lucky as most of the visitors are. However, when he's swum for a while and emerges feeling refreshed, he happens to sit down next to a tubby chap, Henri (Patrick d'Assumçao) who claims not to be interested in pairing off with anybody...
Which is the opposite of what Franck is there for, and he has his eye on a strapping fellow called Michel (Christophe Paou, cast for his resemblance to Tom Selleck), but he seems to be taken the first few days Franck is at the lake. This was ostensibly a thriller, so Michel has his dark side, though just how dark is not something the hero is prepared for, with the visuals starting in bright sunshine and winding up the story so gloomy that it's difficult to make out what the hell is going on. We had to assume this was a metaphor regarding the feeling that Franck has chosen a path that will lead him to his doom, and all thanks to his reckless way with choosing his lust over his common sense.
Of course, a gay themed movie where death begins to loom can only mean one thing to many opinions, and that was the whole murder plot that springs out of the apparently innocent, if sexually explicit, goings-on that made up the film. Was director Alan Guiraudie making parallels between certain homosexuals' habit of cruising for companionship and the dangers that arose from catching something that may eventually kill them, which was, in this context, the spectre of AIDS? It was difficult to ignore: the first man we see Michel slip off into the bushes with insists on using a condom, and as neither have any left he refuses any kind of activity other than a handjob (complete with a shot of an ejaculating penis just in case you weren't sure what kind of film this was).
So that's safe sex, but what of the more dangerous kind? When Franck eventually hooks up with Michel, the actual object of his desire, Guiraudie makes sure we are aware they are not using protection, which will likely bring out your judgemental side. As if that were not serious enough just as it's dusk, Franck has noticed from a distant vantage point that Michel has drowned his previous lover in the lake, which you might have thought would be enough to put you off someone, but if anything makes the murderer more attractive to Franck. Does he have a death wish? Even as the cops start sniffing around looking for the victim, lead by Inspector Damroder (Jérôme Chappatte), he doesn't tell them what he knows, protecting the killer for the sake of another roll in the long grass with him.
The atmosphere was curious, ekeing out what plot there was with languorous pace which had the effect of both a lazy, sundappled quality and sinister, creeping unease that something was definitely not right here. There were occasional incidents of humour, such as the masturbator who simply gets off on watching other men and has to be continually shooed away, plus the fact that the director could have stuffed his movie full of many a bronzed Adonis yet chose to make over half of them chubby, middle-aged blokes as if to indicate the variety of folks you found in cruising spots, such as the hapless individual seeking a willing woman to accomodate him - there were no female characters in this whatsoever, just a brief glimpse in long shot of someone on a boat. Obviously this was aimed at a very specialised audience, but it turned out to be welcomed by a spectrum of moveigoers, not only gay audiences, though the fact remained how much praise would this have received if heterosexual characters were the leads? The novelty aspect didn't disguise not much happens, no matter the strong ambience.
