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Presque rien (2000)

Director: Sébastien Lifshitz

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1 review

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

A queer, elusive slip of a film, this before and after tale of a failed first gay love affair effaces drama, motivation, and ultimately itself, rather. More Proust-lite than Soderbergh, it slips to and fro in time - between breezy summer and bluesy winter, coming out and fall-out - not for fun or show, but simply perhaps to compound and contextualise emotions. Still, it's something of a puzzle. Director Lifshitz's aesthetic control is so tantalising, he leaves the impression there are secrets he's not quite relinquishing. Playful summer days on the Brittany coast are recalled by Mathieu (Elkaïm), returning alone a year and a half later in decidedly sobered mood. He's hardly the extrovert type anyway, but whereas the silent allure of a vacationing local man, Cédric (Rideau), initially elicits a sense of adventure, some subsequent untold derailment has taken him to the brink of suicide. Quietly composed of discreet disclosures, the film is mainly about moment-to-moment impressions which Lifshitz lets unfold from a respectful distance. It's beautifully inscribed, so far as it goes, but the understatement is overwrought. Even the title ('Almost Nothing') seems evasive.

Author: NB

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Arif Grand said...

Posted on Jul 16 2007 16:48 This is one of the best gay themed Drama's that you will ever see.The story is very well told and beautifuly shot.
Stephane Rideau and Jeremie Elkaim are breathtaking.

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