Quand on a 17 ans (2016)
Directed by André Téchiné

Film Review

On n'est pas sérieux, quand on a dix-sept ans...  The first line of Arthur Rimbaud's poem Roman acquires a bitter irony in André Téchiné's latest film, a startling coming-of-age drama that reminds us just how deadly serious those years of adolescent self-discovery can be.  The film came just when Téchiné's admirers had all but given up on him. Since his acclaimed AIDS-themed drama Les Témoins (2007), the director appeared to have lost his way, his inspiration appearing well and truly lacking in his most recent films, two mediocre literary adaptations: Impardonnables (2011) and L'Homme qu'on aimait trop (2014).  Now in his early seventies, Téchiné makes an astonishing return to form with his most sublime film yet, a remarkably astute portrayal of homosexual awakening that swings between extremes of brutality and tenderness, but with an authenticity that simply takes your breath away.

It is a subject that Téchiné has dealt with in several of his earlier films, most successfully in his early coming-of-age drama Les Roseaux sauvages (1994), which won no fewer than four Césars (including awards for Best Film and Best Director) and also the Prix Louis-Delluc.  For his latest foray into teen romance the director teams up with Céline Sciamma, who has won considerable acclaim for her own adolescent-themed dramas Naissance des pieuvres (2007), Tomboy (2011) and Bande de filles (2014).  The result of this collaboration represents not only a high watermark in the careers of both of these gifted auteurs, it is also one of the most profound and stirring films of its kind.  Quand on a 17 ans (a.k.a. Being 17) is assuredly one of the most remarkable coming-of-age dramas that cinema has so far given us - an incredible achievement for a genre that is so familiar that you'd have thought there was nothing left to say on the subject.

The subtlety of Téchiné and Sciamma's writing is faultlessly matched by that of the performances from the three principals, who each contributes enormously to the film's striking realism and powerful emotional resonance.  Sandrine Kiberlain is a perfect choice for the part of the mother of the more seemingly well-adjusted of the two teenagers, the calm still-point around which the tempestuous adolescent maelstrom revolves.  Playing the two 17-year-olds, whose muddled emotions aren't so much put through the wringer as sliced and diced by a piece of equipment of a far more ferociously psychopathic kind, are Kacey Mottet Klein (revealed in Ursula Meier's L'Enfant d'en haut (2012)) and newcomer Corentin Fila.  Both actors are outwardly so different and yet they convey the same harrowing sense of inner fragility and alienation, two orphans of the most cruel and unforgiving storm.

As the more sensitive Damien, Klein is the teenager we can more readily identify with, particularly as he is initially presented to us as the victim, inexplicably targeted by the rough-looking bully Thomas, played by Fila.  But, as the narrative progresses, it is Fila's character who becomes the more interesting of the two boys - the vulnerable outsider who, too conscious of his skin colour and fearing rejection by his adopted family, appears to be constantly alone in a hostile world.  It seems natural for Thomas to hit out, to prey on an easy victim, as this is his way of asserting his control over his environment.  The antagonistic relationship that quickly develops between Damien and Thomas is one that is all too familiar - an emotionally insecure bully showing his superiority by targeting a submissive weakling.

But Téchiné's crafty mise-en-scène hints that there may be far more to this bully-victim relationship than meets the eye.  When Damien fastens his gaze on Thomas (which he does rather a lot), it is not with fear or loathing but with something more like adoration.  On noticing this attention, Thomas's attacks become even more aggressive.  The relationship seems to be developing along sadomasochistic lines - our first clue as to what is really happening beneath the surface.  The situation seems to be reversed when Thomas is (oddly) invited by Damien's mother to move in with her and her son.  Suspecting his mother's motives may not be as innocent as they seem, Damien is impelled by jealousy to hit back, and you wonder who exactly he is jealous of - the wild kid who is in need of motherly attention or the mother hankering for a spot of extramarital romance.

Spurred on by a healthy dose of sexual jealousy, the boys' relationship becomes even more hostile, and finally reaches the point where it appears certain that one of the youngsters will end up murdering the other.  But the dividing line between hatred and love is so thin as to be virtually non-existent, and the film proves this in its second half as the boys' pathological detestation for one other gradually transforms into a completely different set of emotions.  This is where the writing comes into its own, painting the teenagers' gradual realisation of their sexual identity with the subtlest and most heartfelt of strokes.  So authentically played are the scenes in which Fila and Klein finally come to see who they are, having fought their way through the most fierce of emotional blizzards, that you are left stunned.  The inner transformation is mirrored in the passage of the seasons, which takes us from the depths of a bitter winter to a glorious summer where nature is at her most triumphant.

The boys' bitter feud is shown to be nothing more than an uncomprehending reaction against their own true natures, and once they accept this all that remains of their former hostility is a torrent of naked desire.  What this leads to is entirely predictable, close physical contact of a far more intense and passionate kind.   Don't expect a neat, soppy ending - Téchiné and Sciamma are too committed to the truth of human experience to leave us in a sentimental frame of mind.  The protagonists may have traversed a crucial phase in their lives and come out smiling, but the process of self-discovery will continue.  Now that the storm of adolescence has passed, the serious matter of living and loving can begin in earnest.

Film Synopsis

In the Pyrenees, 17-year-old Damien lives alone with his mother Marianne, a dedicated doctor, whilst his father Nathan is away serving as an army pilot in a war-torn country far away.  Thomas is a boy of about the same age, a half-caste who lives with his adopted parents on their hillside farm.  The only thing these teenagers have in common is that they attend the same school, and it is here that Damien, a star pupil, becomes the victim of the more aggressive and less academically capable Thomas, who inexplicably feels the need to pick on him.  One day, Thomas summons Marianne to attend to his stricken mother and is surprised to learn that his mother is pregnant.  Whilst his mother is in hospital, Marianne kindly invites Thomas to stay at her home, unaware that he has been bullying her son.  The boys' violent relationship enters a new stage when they are forced to live together under the same roof, their mutual antagonism aggravated by Damien's suspicions that his mother may have amorous designs on Thomas.  As the months pass, the teenagers gradually come to realise that they share a mutual attraction.  What they had mistaken for loathing turns out to be their first experience of romantic love...