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:

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

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Taglines:

Best Director, Un Certain Regard at Cannes

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Les Films du Losange

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

Alain Guiraudie said this was a very personal film for him because through this film he was directly addressing and dealing with his sexuality on screen in an explicit manner.

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Quotes

Michel: Did you come alone today?
Franck: What do you mean?
Michel: Without your boyfriend?
Franck: What boyfriend?
Michel: The guy you're always with.
Franck: We're not together.
Michel: Really? I thought you were.
Franck: We barely know each other.
Michel: I'm surprised. You seem happy together.
Franck: And what'd you do with yours?
[...]

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Connections

Spoofs Forbidden Games (1952)

User Reviews

An thrilling eye opener

This film tells what goes on among the men cruising by a beautiful lake in the summer, somewhere in France.

"Stranger by the Lake" is a single location film, with all scenes happening in or by the lake. The story focuses on a handsome young man who gets attracted to a dangerous man, putting his life at risk. Then, relationships between them, and a solitary man who sits by the lake gets complicated. Though the pacing is pretty slow in the beginning, the paces accelerates at lightning speed towards the end, delivering much thrills that makes people hold their breath. The ending is left open, but scenes just before the film ends are shocking and almost aggravating, evoking much gasps of horror and shouts of exasperation in the cinema.

Together with the highly explicit scenes, "Stranger by the Lake" is quite an thrilling eye opener that tells the truth in a cruising ground, and how love is completely blind.