Its spring 1942 in Paris and the Nazis have invaded France while the Vichy collaborationist government persecutes the "third sex" by rounding up homosexuals and deporting them to their deaths in concentration camps. This is the turbulent backdrop for "A Love to Hide" (Un amour à taire), a sweeping and unforgettable wartime epic about gay life and love in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Jean (Jeremie Renier) is a loving son who runs the family’s laundry business during the day. By night, he spends his time in the arms of his lover Philippe (Bruno Todeschini), who is an agent of the Resistance. One night, Jean’s childhood Jewish friend Sara (Louise Monot), shows up at their door, her family murdered by the Gestapo. Jean and Philippe immediately take her in, give her shelter, a job in the laundry and help her establish a fake Gentile identity.
Despite the ever-present threat from the Gestapo, the makeshift family is able to live in a fragile safety of sorts, the threesome taking long bike rides in the countryside during the day and the lovers reveling at an underground gay bar at night. But their freedom is only an illusion, and when Jean’s black-sheep brother Jacque (Nicolas Gob) -- a Nazi collaborator -- is released from prison, it’s suddenly shattered forever. The specter of tragedy that ensues is heart-rending, almost difficult to watch, and the film does not romanticize or recoil from the human toll of wartime atrocities.
This elegant, powerful drama about one of the most horrific periods in history is visually stunning with meticulous attention to period detail and constantly gliding cinematography that is often reminiscent of "A Very Long Engagement." With impeccable performances by Jérémie Renier ("Criminal Lovers") and Bruno Todeschini ("Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train"), the film engages us with a complex emotional story that -- despite the expeditious leaps in time and space -- remains sharply paced and utterly absorbing thanks to director Christian Faure’s masterful hand.
"A Love to Hide" was the darling of the gay festival circuit this past year amassing a ton of awards but it really disserved better promotion along with a shot at mainstream movie theatres. No doubt its subject matter had something to do with it not being distributed in the US. It really a shame because it’s a little gem of a film that serves as a haunting and heartbreaking love story that is as universal as it’s theme about the perseverance of the human spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds.
‘A Love to Hide’ will be released December 5, 2006 but is available for pre-order now at Amazon and TLA Video.
Filed in DVDs
Jean (Jeremie Renier) is a loving son who runs the family’s laundry business during the day. By night, he spends his time in the arms of his lover Philippe (Bruno Todeschini), who is an agent of the Resistance. One night, Jean’s childhood Jewish friend Sara (Louise Monot), shows up at their door, her family murdered by the Gestapo. Jean and Philippe immediately take her in, give her shelter, a job in the laundry and help her establish a fake Gentile identity.
Despite the ever-present threat from the Gestapo, the makeshift family is able to live in a fragile safety of sorts, the threesome taking long bike rides in the countryside during the day and the lovers reveling at an underground gay bar at night. But their freedom is only an illusion, and when Jean’s black-sheep brother Jacque (Nicolas Gob) -- a Nazi collaborator -- is released from prison, it’s suddenly shattered forever. The specter of tragedy that ensues is heart-rending, almost difficult to watch, and the film does not romanticize or recoil from the human toll of wartime atrocities.
This elegant, powerful drama about one of the most horrific periods in history is visually stunning with meticulous attention to period detail and constantly gliding cinematography that is often reminiscent of "A Very Long Engagement." With impeccable performances by Jérémie Renier ("Criminal Lovers") and Bruno Todeschini ("Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train"), the film engages us with a complex emotional story that -- despite the expeditious leaps in time and space -- remains sharply paced and utterly absorbing thanks to director Christian Faure’s masterful hand.
"A Love to Hide" was the darling of the gay festival circuit this past year amassing a ton of awards but it really disserved better promotion along with a shot at mainstream movie theatres. No doubt its subject matter had something to do with it not being distributed in the US. It really a shame because it’s a little gem of a film that serves as a haunting and heartbreaking love story that is as universal as it’s theme about the perseverance of the human spirit in the face of almost insurmountable odds.
‘A Love to Hide’ will be released December 5, 2006 but is available for pre-order now at Amazon and TLA Video.
Filed in DVDs
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