Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (2016)

Theo and Hugo are two young gay men who meet one night during a gay orgy at an underground sex club in Paris, France. After building a special connection, they meet outside the club where ... See full summary »

Directors:

Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau

Writers:

Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau

Stars:

Geoffrey Couët, François Nambot, Mario Fanfani

8 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Geoffrey Couët	...	Théo Daumier
François Nambot	...	Hugo
Mario Fanfani	...	Homme au smartphone
Bastien Gabriel	...	Partenaire de Hugo
Miguel Ferreira	...	Premier partenaire de Théo
Arthur Dumas	...	Second partenaire de Théo
Éric Dehak	...	Barman
Patrick Joseph	...	Caissier
Elodie Adler	...	Infirmière d'accueil
Jeffry Kaplow	...	Râleur urgences
Claire Deschamps	...	Interne
Georges Daaboul	...	Vendeur syrien
Marief Guittier	...	Femme du premier métro

Storyline

Theo and Hugo are two young gay men who meet one night during a gay orgy at an underground sex club in Paris, France. After building a special connection, they meet outside the club where they realize they had unprotected sex. During the next 90 minutes, we follow them as they leave the club and get to know each other during bicycling and walking in northeast Paris, visiting a hospital after one of them learns he is HIV positive where they get tested and discuss treatment. They ride the Paris Metro subway, encountering an elderly woman on the subway and then interact with counter server in a kebab shop, before stopping at one of theirs apartment. The action of the film is set entirely in real time as it begins at 4:27 am and concludes at 5:59 am.

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Plot Keywords:

hiv | unprotected sex | gay orgy | full frontal nudity | fellatio | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

27 April 2016 (France)

Also Known As:

Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ecce Films, Epicentre Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original title, which translates literally as "Théo and Hugo in the Same Boat", is a reference to Jacques Rivette's Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974). The name of the character Théo is also an homage to Agnès Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), which is told almost in real time like this film.

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Goofs

In the metro, the old lady was supposed to get off one station before Théo and Hugo, but when they get off at Anvers you can see the old lady still in the wagon.

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Connections

References La belle saison (2015)

User Reviews

It is never too soon to signpost this film as the new landmark in today's queer cinema-scape

French queer filmmakers Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau's seventh feature, Paris 05:59: THÉO & HUGO alludes as much to Agnès Varda's CLEO FROM 5 To 7 in its relation to the real-time plot device, as to Richard Linklater's BEFORE… trilogy, where two individuals are trying to build something intimate and meaningful through small talks in a spontaneously perambulating pace.

But, as a testimonial to the filmmakers true grits, the film takes a bold and sensational initiative to instantaneously put off the prudish and conservative alike, by kicking off the movie with a lurid hardcore sex orgy inside an iridescent bar through the eye of a predator seeking his preys, and then setting its focal point to our two titular protagonists struck by coup de foudre and beginning to consummate their libidinous thrusting in the accompaniment of trippy beats and day-glo lights, but with a consequence, which Ducastel-Martineau duo tactfully explores as the brunt of what happens later that night when they exit together from the bar at 04:47 A.M.

The film does a cracking job in establishing the "sex first, love later" scenario in a post-AIDS 21st century, when carnal impulse receding, the two strangers, both are satisfying with their physical encounter, make tentative steps to know each other from the scratch, and their bonhomie hits a halt when a felix culpa pans out, and the duo must re-connect their rhythm and re-consider their possible future within an approximate one-hour time-line as the film finishes precisely at 06:00.

More often than not, a film hyped by unsimulated sex sequences would suffer from being made light of its less grandstanding elements, for example, Ducastel-Martineau duo's apt punctuation of commentaries concerning those socially marginalized: a hospital devolves the night shift to its distaff employees, homophobia vituperation pelted to the sexuality minority, a Syrian immigrant's perspective on freedom and a senior chambermaid's impromptu babbling (and a resultant blooper for the sharp-eyed), all add a touch of political angel but never overstay their welcome.

The two leads are giving a wholesomely winning and empathetic performance (if it sounds like an understatement after their corporeal sacrifice of leaving nothing to imagination), Geoffrey Couët inhabits a somewhat rustic complexion into Théo's wide-eyed-ness, and François Nambot as Hugo, often takes the lead in their conversation with his youthful urbanity and amiability, a smitten, can-do spirit has no affectation and pretension, which makes the ineffable ending such a boon to be appreciated, not just for their hard-earned chance, but also for Ducastel-Martineau's ingenuity and seeming effortlessness (a keen eye of a nocturnal locus under the unadorned lighting arrangement) of conjuring up something extraordinarily honest, heartfelt and aesthetically arresting out of an ordinary story arc, it is never too soon to signpost this film as the new landmark in today's ever-progressive queer cinema-scape, because the battle hasn't been (completely) won yet.