PRESQUE RIEN (2000) Sebastien Lifshitz

A teenage love story, not particularly recommended for those who like gunfights or special effects. A film about youth. Slow.

The three tenses in which the story unfolds ( present, past and remote past ) blend together to create a single movement whose protagonists are Matthieu and his pain.

The genuineness and candor that characterize the film appear from the very first images, with insistent close-ups of the protagonist.

The beginning of the story is followed at a very slow pace, with exasperating details and with sex shown in a very natural, but also very passionate way: an essential strategy to convey the mad desire that Matthieu feels for Cedric .

The latter is a cocky , arrogant, jerk-off who you fall in love with in a matter of minutes, but in whom you shouldn't place an ounce of trust. But he creates such an obsession in Matthieu that he pushes him to seek out his ex and start dating him ( confusing the viewer: from a screenplay perspective, this point isn't exactly clear ).

There is none of the hyperbole present in many gay-themed films: it is the simple recollection of a broken love that caused suffering. Matthieu's family, with his absent mother, is much more complicated, especially from a mental point of view.

Alongside the two boys, the absolute protagonist is the beach where love is born: between pastel colors and bright reflections it hosts Matthieu's escape, while gray and dull it will instead be present to underline a winter, even of the soul.