L'inconnu du lac (2013)

Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.

Director:

Alain Guiraudie

Writer:

Alain Guiraudie

Stars:

Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao

18 wins & 38 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pierre Deladonchamps	...	Franck
Christophe Paou	...	Michel
Patrick d'Assumçao	...	Henri (as Patrick D'Assumçao)
Jérôme Chappatte	...	Inspecteur Damroder
Mathieu Vervisch	...	Eric
Gilbert Traina	...	L'homme du mardi soir (as Gilbert Traïna)
Emmanuel Daumas	...	Philippe
Sébastien Badachaoui	...	Le mari d'Eric
Gilles Guérin	...	L'homme à femmes
François-Renaud Labarthe	...	Pascal Ramière (as François Labarthe)
Claude Bellelle	...	Un naturiste
Slawomir Cieminski	...	Un naturiste
Jean-Marie Crémier	...	Un naturiste
Bernard Delavaux	...	Un naturiste
Bernard German	...	Un naturiste

Storyline

Franck, a fit gay man, seeks love at a lakeside gay cruising beach. Among the mostly pudgy nude sunbathers, he befriends Henri, a depressed middle-aged bi-sexual who enjoys the quiet but accepts Franck's company. When Michel appears, Franck finally spots a man he'd like to know sexually. Unfortunately, he also spots him drowning his gay lover but opts not to tell anyone in order to consider having a relationship with this handsome yet remorseless killer.

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Plot Keywords:

male full frontal nudity | ejaculation | explicit sex | unprotected sex | unsimulated sex | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

12 June 2013 (France)

Also Known As:

El desconocido del lago

Filming Locations:

Lake of Sainte-Croix, Verdon Gorge, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$27,599, 26 January 2014, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$324,891, 4 May 2014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films du Worso, Arte France Cinéma, M141 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Silurus mentioned as living in the lake is a wels catfish (Silurus glanis), also known as a sheatfish. It is a large catfish species, native to central, southern, and eastern Europe, which has been now introduced to Western Europe. Specimens have been known to reach over 5m in length and 300kg in weight.

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Quotes

Henri: Will you drown him, too, when you're fed up?

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Connections

Spoofs Forbidden Games (1952)

User Reviews

Not for the faint of heart, but ultimately rewarding for demanding moviegoers

There are some thriller tropes here and there, a tiny bit of suspense, but at its core, it's mostly a chronicle, we follow, for a few day, a handful of men cruising by a lac. Some will be taken aback by the highly graphical nature of the movie, but I deeply believe that the point here isn't shock value, but simply the desire to shoot that peculiar microcosm completely untethered, and that, Giraudie (the writer- director) certainly does in spades! Idiots will talked about porn, but this clearly isn't masturbation material, it truly is masterful and heartfelt filmmaking, art in the true sense of the word, but with a lot of fellatio and hand jobs between men! It should speak to all of us, because at its core is the fear of absolute loneliness, even amongst one's kin, and the character of Henri in that respect is quite fascinating. Basically the man is a clam, his mind seems unfathomable, is he looking for a friend, is he looking for a lover? What does he truly want from the protagonist Franck? Who knows? So, to sum it up, don't take your parents to see this film, trust me, but go, you'll thank me later!