Tribute to Patrice Chéreau 2009 / L' homme blessé / France 1983
This sombre tale of homosexual initiation is the first film Patrice Chéreau considers "his own”. 18-year-old Henri (Jean-Hugues Anglade) comes across the experienced Jean, a brutal self-loathing pimp, in the men’s toilets of a Paris railway station. His enchantment with an unexpected kiss sets him on a path towards his own tragedy.
Patrice Chéreau leaves his hero to discover his own homosexuality in the most wretched of places – the men’s toilets at a Paris railway station. Timid 18-year-old Henri, dutifully accompanying his sister to the train with his parents, finds himself here quite by accident and, while shaken by an act of violence he witnesses, he is stunned by an unexpected kiss from the perpetrator. Thus begins his dark odyssey, since he can’t stop himself returning – to the demi-monde of homosexual prostitutes, older gentlemen walking past with hungry looks in their eyes, and lost souls vainly seeking a love that has burned out. But, primarily, he goes in search of Jean (Vittorio Mezzogiorno), a constantly elusive phantasm as repulsive for his wanton brutality and indifference as he is fascinating for his sudden tenderness. The path Henri takes in order to finally satisfy his passion leads ultimately to self-loathing and inevitable tragedy… The suggestive power of Chéreau’s film is the result of both its minimalist, ascetic screenplay (awarded a César) and its laconically precise execution, set largely against the raw backdrop of night-time Paris. Not least, the film owes much for its emotional impact to the authentic (and highly courageous) performance of the then novice Jean-Hugues Anglade in the starring role.
109 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Patrice Chéreau
/ Screenplay Hervé Guibert, Patrice Chéreau
/ Dir. of Photography Renato Berta
/ Editor Denise de Casabianca
/ Producer Claude Berri, Ariel Zeitoun, Marie-Laure Reyre
/ Production Gaumont, Partner’s Production, Renn Production, Oliane Production, Azor Films, FR 3
/ Cast Jean-Hugues Anglade, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Roland Bertin, Lisa Kreuzer, Claude Berri, Armin Müller-Stahl
/ Contact Connaissance du cinéma
Connaissance du cinéma
122 rue La Boétie, 750 08, Paris
France
Phone: +33 1 435 901 01
Fax: +33 1 435 964 41
E-mail: [email protected]
Patrice Chéreau
Film Director
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