François Ozon’s period piece about two teenage boys falling in love after a boating incident steers away from profundity
François Ozon gives us a histrionic dose of photolove drama in this watchable if not especially profound young-love heartbreaker, which earnestly insists on the resounding emotional power of Rod Stewart’s classic track Sailing. It’s based on Dance on My Grave, the pioneering YA novel of gay experience by
British author Aidan Chambers, published in 1982.
This is a very 80s story, and the picture quality has that washed-out summer-faded quality that reminded me of the era’s denim and the films of Eric Rohmer. Félix Lefebvre plays Alex, a teenage boy who comes to a seaside town in Normandy with his parents. One day, while sailing his dinghy, Alex gets into difficulties, and is miraculously saved by David (Benjamin Voisin) a boy Alex’s age who happens to be sailing his own dinghy. There is an instant spark between them and they begin an affair in which David is clearly the dominant partner. Things are complicated when an English au pair, Kate (Philippine Velge) befriends them both, and the story is told in retrospect with Alex in
police custody for reasons that are not clear.