|
SON FRERE |
 |
Director:
Patrice Chéreau
Screenplay: Patrice Chéreau and Anne-Louise
Trividic. Adapted from the novel "Son Frère"
by Philippe Besson
Cast:
Thomas: Bruno Todeschini
Luc: Eric Caravaca
Running time: 95 minutes
Year of production: France - 2002
Rating: Not rated (nudity)
Gauge: 35mm, DVD (color)
Distributor: Strand Releasing
|
|
“Chéreau's
film is an unsentimental, almost uninflected, account
of a preparation for death, told with a painful clarity
that eventually bleeds into compassion.” Dennis Lim
| Village Voice |
|
|
|
|
Thomas suffers
from an incurable disease that affects his blood, and he may
die from a hemorrhage at any time. Although Thomas has not
talked to his brother Luc in years - Thomas was unable to
accept Luc’s homosexuality and preferred to distance
himself from him – he asks Luc to attend to his medical
needs. Luc decides to sacrifice his love and his job to become
his brother’s caretaker. Together, Luc and Thomas are
forced to examine the meaning of their existence and their
relationship. They return to their childhood home on the Brittany
shore where Thomas has chosen to spend his last days. There,
they reconnect with their past and forge a new and revitalized
relationship. The blue magnificence of the scenes on the shore
- the stage of death - will be revisited throughout the entire
story, even in Paris, where the disease advances. The medical
treatments, the operation, the blood stains on the white sheets,
all the signs of a decaying body, are shown with neither fright
nor disgust, only care and love. Son frère is
deeply moving and disturbing. Chéreau manages to etch
a delicate portrait of human agony, compassion and brotherhood,
with truly brilliant sequences in the hospital, where he films
all the details of caretaking with great delicacy.
|
|
|
| PHOTO Strand
Releasing |
|
|
|
