I never thought a film could equal ' Theo and Hugo ' and ' Sauvage ' but this film perhaps even surpasses both of them. David Fardmar has quite simply made a masterpiece and Bjorn Elgard gave a performance that stunned me with its quiet power. Unlike the above mentioned films the sexuality is slightly less explicit, but all the stronger for it. Enough is shown and is beautiful to watch. No abuse, no violence and always in the context of that most fragile of things, an attempt to attain mutual love. Even in one scene where a young man is just used as a sexual outlet due to frustration and emotional loss was sadly understandable. Basically we trace the story of two lovers who have broken up, and it is a heartbreak that both endure and cannot mend. To say more would be to spoil the film. But I must return to Bjorn Elgard's tenderly inward performance, and his silent tears in one scene cracked me up. Nothing false and nothing overstated, and it takes a lot from within to give life to a character and to make the viewer believe that he is not simply acting, but being the role. I do not diminish in any way the other actors as all gave fine performances, but Elgard's faraway look, lost sometimes even to the point of inner breakdown is perfection itself. There is comedy as well in the film, and it is finely placed in several scenes; once in a restaurant and in another where a divided bed ( literally torn away like an emotional amputation ) made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. And yes viewers men do cry, and I am thankful for it. If I am giving the impression this film is a weepie it is not. It is a sober look at Gay men's relationships and is multi-layered. Above all it is superbly made without a scene that jarred and the camera work was balanced and assured. I like to believe even the perhaps homophobic Ingmar Berman would have envied its power and the heights and depths of what it means to reach for truth and love.
