L’inconnu du lac

An isolated lake in France where gay men meet to have anonymous sex and check each other out. Franck understands the place’s grammar of signs in intuitive fashion. One evening, he becomes the witness of a murder, but instead of reporting the murderer or staying away from him at least, his desire grows ever stronger. Cruising is more than just a plot device in Alain Guiraudie’s fairy-tale thriller. From the essential characteristics of gay cultural techniques—the clear dramatic structure of the gaze, the rush of sexual liberation, the giddiness of subtle danger—he develops a topography beyond bourgeois norms and full of seductive ambivalence. (Christian Weber) – “Between Franck’s knowledge and his desire, a huge abyss opens up and grows ever bigger, into which everything, even the world, will eventually disappear.” (Sascha Westphal, sissy)