Les Amis (1971)
Directed by Gérard Blain

Film Review

Gérard Blain was and remains a paradox.  A darling of the French New Wave, he could, had he chosen it, been one of the biggest stars of his generation.  But acting was never something that he felt entirely comfortable with.  Offered a Hollywood contract, he turned it down and stayed in Europe, accepting roles in low budget French and Italian films, most of which are completely forgotten today.  Despite the early promise he showed in his first major roles, in Julien Duvivier's Voici le temps des assassins (1956) and Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge (1958), Blain's heart was never in acting.  What he longed for was to be able to direct his own films, and after a long and difficult struggle he finally had the opportunity to do just that.  But he didn't play it safe, bien au contraire....

Typical of his rebellious and uncompromising temperament, Blain's first film as a director was daring to the point of provocation.  Les Amis was not only groundbreaking because it portrayed a same sex relationship in a sympathetic way, it also risked being banned by the censor on account of the fact that the relationship in question involved a middle-aged man and a boy of sixteen.  (At the time, the age of consent was 21.)   In a similar vein to Blain's subsequent Un enfant dans la foule (1976) (which can be seen as a prequel to this film), Les Amis has an obvious autobiographical component.  Like the boy featured in the film, Blain was abandoned in early childhood by his father, left school at 13, had aspirations of a life as an actor and willingly entered into relationships with older men when he was a teenager.  The film may have been controversial but it earned its director considerable critical acclaim.  François Truffaut was effusive in his praise for it and it won the Golden Leopard for Best First Work at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1971.  But, in common with all of Blain's subsequent work, the film had difficulty finding a distributor and was not a commercial success.

As a filmmaker, Blain's strongest influences were his heroes Robert Bresson and Carl Dreyer.  Like Bresson, Blain preferred non-professional actors whom he could 'mould' rather than established actors.  The deceptive simplicity of Bresson and Dreyer's films is reflected in Blain's own work, which, as a consequence, possesses an astonishing purity and veracity.  (Watching a Gérard Blain film is always a cathartic experience, and you genuinely do feel cleansed afterwards.)   Inspired by the minimalism of Bresson's late period films, Blain favoured long static shots with a pared back composition, often with strong colours and minimal motion within the shot.  The most obvious Bressonian touch in Les Amis is the sequence depicting Philippe's death.  The camera remains focussed on the exit to a service station after Philippe drives off in his car.  We then hear the sound of a car crash and realise that Philippe is gone.  If Blain had shown us the car crash, it could never have had such a powerful impact.

Surprisingly, given that he had a reputation as a homophobe in later years, Blain makes no moral judgement on Paul's relationship with Philippe.  It is clearly one based on mutual exploitation but there is also something much deeper - each has a profound need for emotional support which the other is able to supply.  Neglected by his own family, Paul's transition to adulthood would be unbearable without the attention and material help that Philippe provides him with; in return, Philippe takes from Paul the respect and tenderness that his wife appears unable or unwilling to give him.  From what Blain shows us, we have very little reason to think they are lovers.  Theirs is more a father-son or mentor-student relationship, the older generation passing on the baton to the younger.  Whether Philippe and Paul share the same bed is irrelevant.  Blain's primary interest is in showing us how essential adult companionship is for a teenager during the process of growing up.  Robbed, as he was, of a committed father, the adolescent is bound to look for a substitute.  Through their incredibly subtle, intensely involving performances, Yann Favre and Philippe March give Blain's film a heartbreaking reality that evokes not only the fragility of adolescence but also the exquisite beauty of friendship, the only thing in life that is more tragic than love.

Film Synopsis

Paul is a 16-year-old boy who lives with his mother in social housing in Paris.  He left school at 13 and is in no hurry to find a job, imagining that one day he will begin a career as an actor. Craving affection which his mother and older sister are unable to provide, he begins a relationship with a married businessman named Philippe who is thirty years his senior.  Philippe satifies not only Paul's emotional needs, he also provides him with material comfort and moral support as he makes the transition to adulthood.  Whilst taking a holiday at the seaside resort of Deauville Paul makes friends of his own age and experiences his first real taste of love...