A STRANGER BY THE LAKE--AN X RATED MOVIE--REVIEWED WITH WARNING!

(WARNING: THIS IS A REVIEW OF AN X RATED MOVIE CURRENTLY SHOWING IN
THEATRES AND MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE TO BE READ BY MINORS OR PRUDES)

Far from being a prude porn has never done anything for me except maybe
wanting to be in it, explicit sex, gay or nongay, in a film does nothing
for me. I prefer the days when they hinted at it. My first reaction to A
stranger By The Lake, a French film with badly placed white sub-titles,
was a porn film with a story but it did turn out to be more than that
with a shocking non-ending!

A Stranger By The Lake takes place around a lake where on one side
(though we never see people on the other side) gay men sunbath nude and
walk into the woods behind the rocky beach to have sex. Lust, not love,
unfolds here. When Franck Pierre Deladonchamps) first spots Michael
(Christophe Paou) he immediately follows him into the woods and sees the
latter having sex with another man which only intrigues the former
more. The next day he is a witness to Michael drowning his lover and,
instead of going to the police, the next he once again follows him into
the woods and they devour each other in every way. They become day time
lovers, with Franck wanting more and Michael unwilling to give him more
knowing they will tire of each other.

Along the way we meet Henri (Patrick d'Assumcao), an obese factory
worker who recently split up with his girlfriend, who Franch strikes up a
platonic relationship which is partially what Henri is looking for
being very lonely. By the way, in a change from gay themed films, all
the men are not pretty, young hunky guys, coming in all shapes and
sizes. We also meet the inspector (Jerome Chappatte) inquiring to what
happened to the young man who drowned and this is when A Stranger BY The
Lake becomes an interesting, puzzling movie.

The movie by director/writer Alain Guiraudie has made many films, both
gay and non-gay, revolving around the desires that may not fit societies
ideas but happen all the time.

For those who always wanted to know what 'two men do together' this is
the movie to see, along with being pulled in by the murder mystery. For
gay men who have ever done outdoor cruising or, even closer to home have
cruised Dania Beach in past years, you will see actions and hear many
lines that you are familiar with, some making you smile and even laugh.

Though the film is 100 minutes it should have been cut by at least 10
minutes which would have been easy enough to do by eliminating a few too
many swimming scenes and the explicit sex scenes. The ending is not one
almost as if the director/screenwriter didn't know how to end it.

The lake, the parking area (an important part of the film to relay
passage of time), the woods and the sky are all photographed beautifully
and it isn't until you leave the theatre you realize there wasn't any
music on the sound track.