Close to Leo (TV 2002)
"Tout contre Léo" (original title)

When 21 year-old Leo, the oldest of four brothers, announces to his rural French family that he's HIV+ family bonds are tested. The family decides that 11 year Marcel, the youngest, is too ... See full summary »

Director:

Christophe Honoré

Writers:

Diastème, Christophe Honoré (novel)

Stars:

Yaniss Lespert, Pierre Mignard, Marie Bunel

Cast

Credited cast:
Yaniss Lespert	...	Marcel
Pierre Mignard	...	Léo
Marie Bunel	...	Mother
Rodolphe Pauly	...	Tristan
Jérémie Lippmann	...	Pierrot
Dominic Gould	...	Father
Louis Gonzales	...	Yvan
Joana Preiss	...	Yvan's Mother
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alex Beaupain	...	(as Alexandre Beaupain)
Assaad Bouab	...	Aymeric
Sylvie Contant
Julien Honoré
Laurent Honoré
Anna Kerivel
Gwen Le Gac

Storyline

When 21 year-old Leo, the oldest of four brothers, announces to his rural French family that he's HIV+ family bonds are tested. The family decides that 11 year Marcel, the youngest, is too young to understand and the family agrees to keep the unsettling news from him. Marcel overhears enough to understand that something amiss with Leo and when the two travel to Paris together, Marcel confronts Leo with what he suspects.

---

Plot Keywords:

train station | tape recording | hospital | swollen gland | burial | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 October 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Close to Leo

Filming Locations:

Brittany, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Image et Compagnie, M6 Métropole Télévision

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

User Reviews

Excellent french COA movie

This movie was for a while in my collection, but it wasn't before a friend of mine reminded me about it – until I decided that I should watch it. I did not know much about Close to Leo – just that it was supposed to be excellent coming out of age movie and it deals with a very serious topic – Aids.

Although the person who has aids – is Leo – the scenario wraps around the way in which Marcel (the youngest brother of Leo) coupes with the sickness of his relative. At first everyone is trying to hide the truth from Marcel – he is believed to be too young to understand the sickness of his brother – the fact that Leo is also a homosexual contributes to the unwillingness of the parents to discus the matter with the young Marcel. I know from experience that on many occasions most older people do not want to accept the fact that sometimes even when someone is young this does not automatically means that he will not be able to accept the reality and act in more adequate manner then even themselves . With exception of the fact that the family tried to conceal the truth from Marcel, they have left quite an impression for me – the way they supported their son – even after discovering the truth about his sexuality and his sickness. The fact that they allowed the young Marcel to travel along with Leo to Paris to meet his ex boyfriend was quite a gesture from them– most families I know will be reluctant to do that. There is a lot of warmth in the scenes in which the brothers spend some time together – you can see them being real friends , concern about each other.

Close to Leo is an excellent drama, which I strongly recommend