Because of a Boy (2002)

I love this movie so much

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I think that's all I've to say: Awesome, Great!!It is a very romantic drama, well done. Loved the romantic and sexy music they used, I liked the way they add humor ( a little bit of comedy), eroticism, romance...It was perfect... And LOVED the end. I think this is the first gay-drama movie that I've seen that doesn't end in tragedy. It is not a happy ending at all because not all characters end in happiness, but it definitely shows that gay people can be more than what people think. Gays can overcome all things in life.And also,both the main character and the "new guy at school" are very handsome. Great movie, hot actors (and actresses too), great plot, good development (not that so great but still good)...and...a little bit short for me...But, as Sullivan commented...it was useful. (To know more about what I mean read Sullivan's comment: "Not only excellent: useful, too!" in this same site.

Vincent, the teen aged student at a French high school in a suburb of Paris, struggles with himself because he knows that, deep down inside, he is gay and has no idea about how to come out to his friends and to his own family. Vincent didn't need to worry about it, his school mates will take care of that for him when they see Benjamin, the strange new boy at their school who is obviously attracted by Vincent.Naomie, Vincent's girlfriend has no clue of what's going on with him, even when he begins acting strange. Vincent's cover suddenly comes to an end when someone decided to write on the school's wall that Vincent is gay, something he was not prepared to do. Suddenly, his whole world comes tumbling down and it's his own brother who tells his parents about Vincent's sexual preference.Fabrice Cazeneuve, the director, presents the story of Vincent and how he tries to cope with his homosexuality. It's curious the screen play was written by Vincent Molina, whose story this might be, but since nothing is mentioned about it, we can only assume he was writing about his own experience. In fact, Vincent in the film is called Vincent Molina. For this being a French movie, the emphasis is on heterosexual sex concerning Noemie, the girlfriend, as she goes to bed with Vincent, who is trying to cover up his problem, and then, after finding out, she is seen bedding Stephane, a mutual friend.The film, which was made for French television, doesn't break any new ground. We have seen better movies based on similar situations conceived by American filmmakers. There are no shocking gay scenes in the movie, which seems to be of two minds about the subject. On the one hand, the relationship with Noemie plays a big part and Vincent's sexual exploration with Bruno, the boy he thought he liked, takes second place. Vincent is totally repulsed by what he experiences when he meets Bruno at the gay bars of the Marais. When he tries to be bold with Benjamin, his effort is met with skepticism from the other young man.Julien Baumgartner, appears as Vincent, the teen ager who realizes he is gay. Julia Marval, a beautiful young actress plays Noemie, the girl that loves Vincent. Jeremie Elkaim, is seen as Benjamin, the boy that awakens a passion in Vincent, and who at the end seems to be the one that truly loved him for himself.

"You'll Get Over It" ("À Cause d'un garcon") isn't half the film Téchiné's "Wild Reeds" is. But precisely because it works on a smaller canvas and is basically limited to the gay coming out theme, it has a special appeal for the gay audience. The film has had minimal distribution in the US, but will do well on the rental market. You have to admit that though it's nice to have a straightforward French coming out film, this one doesn't deal with the issue of the public image in school as firmly as the English "Get Real" does, nor does it deal with all the social and personal and physical issues of coming out as well as the American 'Edge of Seventeen' does. Nonetheless it does contain some peculiarly French aspects that give it special interest.Though Benjamin (Jérémie Elkaïm), -- the provocative, sexy boy who tempts Vincent (Julien Baumgartner) to kiss him, then pulls back and the next day meanly outs him -- isn't the main character, he certainly is the deus ex machina, and hence the French title, "Because of a Boy," does make more sense. Besides, at the end Benjamin is about to become Vincent's new lover.The old lover invites Vincent to come meet him at a gay bar in the Marais, and that attempt to master a gay scene and acquire a genuine gay support group is a terrible failure. The bar is depicted as a real meat rack where the young, fresh Vincent is seen purely as "merchandise." There's no hope of camaraderie, and Vincent flees in horror. A complete contrast to the trajectory of "Edge of Seventeen" and "Queer As Folk," in both of which the ingénue's finding a niche in a gay community is a major element of his successful coming out process. It's pretty pathetic that in a French school they don't know the word "gay" yet, and everybody refers to Vincent as a "pédé," which comes from pédéraste and suggests a child abuser, but has to be translated by its closest equivalent in the context, "fag." French attitudes may have their limitations, but Vincent hasn't got it so bad. He's a swim team star. He has a cute girlfriend and a straight best friend who both remain loyal after he's outed. The girlfriend, Noémie (Julia Maraval), being French, has no illusions – once she's been disillusioned, that is -- but, being French, is able to provide plenty of rational conversation to help Vincent understand what's going on in his life. She's also the one he runs to for consolation after each of his mini-crises. (The girlfriend in "Edge of Seventeen" also had conversations but they were a tad less rational.) The toughest part of the whole process for Vincent, perhaps, are the rebuffs and mean behavior of Benjamin, and above all the cruel rejections he gets from his mates on the swim team, which almost force him to withdraw from competition. Vincent's resentful "chaumeur" (jobless) brother is really resentful not so much of the gayness but of all the attention Vincent gets no matter what's going on with him.An interesting side issue – also something typical of the French milieu, is Vincent's literature teacher. The man, who comes across as soulful and cool in class, and whom the other faculty members may correctly guess is gay, nonetheless is closeted, and when he's asked to try to counsel Vincent, absolutely refuses; later he approaches Vincent clandestinely (you'd think they were spies) to admit how he is and offer odd, furtive encouragement.It's the straight swim coach who brings Vincent out of his funk on the basis of neutrality: "chacun à son gout" is his guiding principle: "Let's leave our personal lives out of this; we have a job to do: we want to win." Isn't this, also, a typically French approach -- not affirmative action but the live-and-let-live philosophy? As for Vincent's parents, they're splendid. Both declare that they love him no matter what, and even go so far as to timidly inquire if some day he will 'live openly with another man.' How often has this come up in a gay coming out film? The French think ahead. Of course, Vincent, who's pretty confused, can't really answer them yet. He still half wishes he could stick with Noémie, whom he's just had sex with for the first time when Benjamin outs him. Poor Noémie; a quick fling with Vincent's best friend lacks magic, and she winds up going off to be an au pair girl in America, fearing that the food will make her turn into a blimp. Everything is really a bit too easy in "You'll Get Over It." He "gets over it" way too quickly. But despite the claims of mainstream writers who profess to be utterly bored with multiple treatments of it, the gay coming out experience is still new enough on screen to need treatments for each language and each milieu, and this one deserves its small place in the canon.

Although I enjoyed watching this movie at first, on second thought I noticed quite a few inconsistencies. The story is about a gay teenager who is outed in school, and how his life is made quite impossible because of this. The young protagonist, Vincent, finds himself ousted from his 'straight' peers, and neither does he feel at home in the 'gay' scene of Paris. The screenplay writer has done a good job at showing how even in modern Western societies, where laws are more and more granting equal rights to gay people, real life is still a far cry from egalitarian. Homosexuality is accepted, as long as you wait till you finish school, and don't demonstrate romantic displays of kissing in public, except in gay ghetthoes like the Parisian Marais. Whereas the screenplay-writer has tried to make this point, the director of the film then goes on to make exactly the mistake of treating straight erotic scenes and romantic storylines, differently to the gay ones. There are many and long 'sex' scenes between Vincent and his girl-friend, whom we constantly see nude on the bed, but very few and not very explicit gay 'sex' scenes. If we have to see Vincent give oral sex to his girlfriend, why can we not see the same between him and another guy? When Vincent meets up with his sex-buddy, we see a few quick kisses, which are immediately followed by him leaving the shower. The 'romantic love story between Vincent and the Jeremy Elkaim character is also rather sparsely portrayed. More focus is given to the the demise of the relation between Vincent and his 'girlfriend', rather than the blossoming of love between the two guys, which has been the catalyst for his outing in the first place. *spoiler*The final scene is supposed to tell us that Vincent has finally reached 'freedom'. Vincent and his new boyfriend are seen running in the park, in love, but when they tumble down on the grass, just before they 'french' kiss each other properly, the camera moves away, and the end credits appear.Why have the gay erotic scenes and the gay romantic storyline not been portrayed equally to the straight ones? It smacks of internalized homophobia of the director. A movie that's supposed to be about the liberation and equality of gays, should then not demonstrate exactly the opposite visually, or should I say by lack of showing it!A pity, I think the screenplay deserved a better directorial execution.Some questions that are left unanswered:If Vincent has to train for a sports scholarship by himself because his swim mates cannot stand to be with a 'gay' in the same pool, then how will Vincent deal with this problem when he goes to University, where he no doubt will encounter the same discrimination? Unless he keeps himself in the closet there again.The excuse given to why Jeremy Elkaim's character did not kiss Vincent at first, is rather odd. Why could their relationship not develop properly?In the end I even start to believe that this is a gay movie for a straight public, and the director wants to spare that audience too much explicit gay material. A decision which is quite offensive towards gay people.