Being 17 - Quand on a 17 ans

Directed by André Téchiné

Starring: Sandrine Kiberlain, Kacey Mottet Klein, Corentin Fila

Country: France

Year: 2016

Review by Roberto Matteucci

The filmmaker André Téchiné loves the age of male adolescence and despite his seventy-four years continues to maintain a carnal vision of friendship. Adolescence is the battlefield on everyone builds the future life. He wants to prove this thought once again in the movie Being 17 - Quand on a 17 ans.

This time the environment is peaceful, serene; there are no gangs of homophobic ready to kill gay people. There are no families with violent fathers and religious fanatical mothers, who hunt the children from home.

Different from I Don’t Kiss in 1991, when being homosexual means to spend life on the road and being hidden and repressed. They could do everything but they could not kiss in the mouth, because too feminine.

Different from Wild Reeds in 1994. A pied-noir, from Algeria, already had a series of problems and he could not add, in a strict society, even a homosexual relationship with a young guy.

In Being 17, Damien and Thomas live in a mountain town. They are two teenagers and classmates in the city high school. They are not friends; they do not talk to each other and Thomas shows hatred against Damien. Why? One day at the school, without no reason, Thomas pushes him and Damien fells in to the snow: "why we don't like each other?"

Damien is a handsome blond boy, belongs to a good family. He lives with his mother Marianne, doctor in the country. His father is a helicopter pilot in French army on a mission abroad. In the house, there is a peaceful atmosphere, love, dialogue between son and mother.

Thomas lives in an isolated farm. A couple of farmers adopted him and they love him. In addition, Thomas loves them a lot and he takes care of his sick mother: "I like the mountains."

The differences are in school, Damien is good student, Thomas prefers to work with the farm animals instead of studying. Thomas always likes to be alone.

In the first part, the author creates a difference between the two boys, they have a common path but parallel, even physically. The two boys go to school in the same street but in a different way, Damien comfortably in the car with his mother; Thomas walks through the snow for more than an hour and then takes the bus.

We begin to understand the situation in second part. The director works on the look of the boys, he uses furtive subjective angle: glimpse behind the camera is not hate.

Marianne often visit Thomas mother because she is sick. She has a dangerous pregnancy. She had already lost one son and for this reason had adopted Thomas.

The subjective angle changes, Damien gets a glimpse to his mother when she goes to the Thomas home.

For several circumstances, Marianne invites Thomas to live with them. A difficult cohabitation but the two boys start to talk, to know, to explain. However, every relationship has its contradictions and the two teenagers have so many.

The moment of understanding starts with a challenge, a physical fight on the mountain. The director shows the duel like an erotic dance, and accompanied by a swim in the lake.

The snow has melted and spring is arriving.

The erotic tensions arise and Damien gets an internet date with a man: "I have to know if I am attracted to boys or only on you."

Thomas accompanies him. The man has a farm. He refused the approach with Damien because too young, but he gets on well with Thomas because it is interested in the farm and the animals.

The two boys begin to understand each other but they have to tackle a traumatic event in the life of Damien. Between the two boys now, there is also Marianne.

In the beginning, Damien, during a class lesson, read poetry of Arthur Rimbaud.

There is a connection between that poem and Thomas and his bucolic life on the farm, besides there is a link with the final scene.

Once her brother was born, Thomas leaves school and starts working in the farm. In the nature, in the farm, Damien and Thomas love each other, now the tensions are gone.

After long time homosexuality cinematography changes. It stops describing violence or hatred against gay. Being 17 is a gay movie about love in the time of gay marriage in France. In the movie there is just a violence, but between two gays, with a justification for an affective growth. The film is pure, clear, with a light photography. There are no great secrets but the movie is only a story of coming-of-age.

Téchiné works on deep characters; he follows the details such as posters with Crazy movie and David Bowie in the Damien’s room.

He works also on the mother personality, because it is the source of love by Damien and later by Thomas.