Les Beaux gosses (2009) - film review

Hervé is an ordinary 14-year-old who lives alone with his mother on a housing estate in Brittany.  Like most boys of his age, his one thought is to get himself a girlfriend, but his attempts to do so seem doomed to failure. Then, one day, one of the girls in his class, Aurore, begins to take an interest in him.   Hervé, green as a cucumber, fails to see the signs of incipient attraction and is surprised when Aurore throws herself into his arms.  At last, he has what he most desires.  His porn-addicted friend, Camel, persuades him that he will lose Aurore unless he gets her into bed.  Naturally, Hervé has no idea how to go about doing this...

Is there any kind of film these days which invites more derision and gnashing of teeth than that cinematic abomination, the teen movie?   Over the past decade, the genre has sunk so far in the estimation of most self-respecting reviewers that even the merest juxtaposition of those two words ("teen" and "movie") is likely to induce a desire to indulge in a spot of self-immolation.  Anyone who thought American Pie (1999) was the pits should take a look at From Justin to Kelly (2003), and then take comfort in the fact that this is the absolute nadir of human cultural achievement.   There is no species of film known to man that is more prone to clichés and homespun plot scenarios of the most toe-curling variety than this most ill-served of genres.

Just why are teen movies so bad?  Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that they are made almost exclusively for teenagers.  Consequently, they portray adolescents as they wish to be portrayed (glamorous, ultra-cool sophisticates with designer teeth and a wardrobe to match) not as they really are (brash, malodorous, acne-ridden misfits).  Not all teen movies are execrably bad.  From time to time, the genre throws up (sorry, bad choice of words) something special, a film that shows teenagers as they really are, zits and all.  Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl (1981) and John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club (1985) are probably the best of the bunch, both offering an honest reflection on adolescence which is as poignant as it is amusing.  Riad Sattouf’s more recent debut film Les Beaux gosses (a.k.a. The French Kissers) is another film in this rarest of ilks, a superior kind of teen movie which puts its present wave of Hollywood counterparts to shame.  

Given the bad reputation that the teen movie has these days, it seems unfair to attach this label to a film of the quality of Les Beaux gosses.  Okay, so the film is about a pair of hormone-drenched adolescent boys who seem to spend all of their time masturbating and conspiring over how to get off with the prettiest girls in the class (not as easy as it sounds when you have a face like a gargoyle).  But, crude jokes aside, it is a film which takes its subject seriously and has an appeal that extends far beyond a teenage audience.  Forget the stale caricatures and the concessions to teenage modesty.  The characters in this film are as ugly, socially inept and ill-behaved as they would be in real-life, and come complete with wall-to-wall acne and frizzled hair that hasn’t been within fifty miles of a comb, let alone a bottle of shampoo.   If beauty is to be found in truth, then this film has beauty in abundance.

Prior to making this film, Riad Sattouf had pursued a successful career as an author of comic books.  His best known work was his 2005 book Retour au collège, although he is equally famous for his regular strip cartoon contributions to the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.  Surprisingly, the world that Sattouf presents in his film is nothing like the one we find in his bandes dessinées.  The characters are realistically drawn and their situations are ones that any teenager would recognise (with a blush).  Instead of drawing on his imagination, here Sattouf falls back on his own experiences, and even sets the film in the very town where he passed his own troubled adolescence, Rennes in Brittany.

Perhaps mindful of what he had seen in other teen movies, Sattouf resolutely avoided casting trained actors for the teenage roles and instead employed only non-professionals.  As a concession to the distributors (and also because he feared this might be his one and only shot at filmmaking) he selected a few well-known actors (Emmanuelle Devos and Irene Jacob) for the adult roles.  Sattouf’s instincts were to prove right.  His cast of ordinary-looking amateurs could out-perform any cast of pretty drama school graduates any day, such is the gauche charm and sincerity they bring to their performances.  Two of the actors (Noémie Lvovsky and Vincent Lacoste) were nominated for awards at the 2010 Césars,  Although neither won the award, the film did at least recompense Sattouf with the Best First Film César.

Les Beaux gosses is a refreshing alternative and much-needed antidote to the plethora of risible teen movies that have washed up on our shores in recent times.  With unflinching realism (or is it sadism?) it shows adolescence as it really is - not some sugar-coated Hollywood boy-meets-girl fantasy, but a desperately traumatic period of change and self-discovery in a young person’s life.  Sattouf’s evident lack of experience as a director prevents this from being a polished piece of cinema, but this is no bad thing as it adds to the film’s realism and authenticity.

© James Travers 2010

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