This almost dialogue-free film concerns a Quebecois couple, Tony (the gorgeous, talented Gregory Barco) and Chloe (the almost childlike Clemence Thioly). The moody Tony is playing with the guts of a wind-up music-box when Chloe enters their hotel room. She's brought Alliocha (ragingly handsome Adrien Laligue), a Russian immigrant and male prostitute, with her.
Although the film never comes out and says so, it's eventually clear that Chloe has pressured Tony into having a menage-a-trois. Tony, for his part, is extremely unhappy but has acquiesced nonetheless. Alliocha speaks no English, but the three start drinking. Soon the clothes come off. Chloe writes her name in magic-marker on Alliocha's chest. He writes his on Tony's chest, and Tony writes his on Alliocha's. The writing has symbolic significance that will be apparent by the end of the film.
Tony and Chloe begin to make out in front of Alliocha, who eventually joins in. Soon, the three are on the bed, Chloe in the middle. She thrusts her hands into each man's briefs, bringing them to full arousal. She lays back on the bed, and Alliocha begins making out with and making love to her. Tony is oddly reticent, but soon joins in. Smoothly and quickly, Alliocha begins making out with Tony, too. Eventually, Alliocha penetrates Tony from behind and makes love to him for a long time. Chloe, left out, watches in silence.
When it is over, Chloe and Alliocha head for the bathtub, where Chloe caresses and cuddles the Russian stud. But Tony angrily stalks into the bathroom, scrubs himself red and raw, soaps up and washes off. He spits on Alliocha, and strides back into the bedroom. Alliocha washes off the spittle and towels off. In the bedroom, Tony weeps inconsolably. Alliocha puts on his clothes, and does not comfort him. Chloe emerges from the bathroom and pays Alliocha his money. Alliocha leaves, and walks down the street. Later that night, Tony lies in bed...still, quiet, crying. Chloe sits on the edge of the bed. She dresses, and then she, too, begins to weep.
It's almost impossible to know what to make of this film. The set-up is so murky that it is not apparent whether Chloe and Tony are brother and sister, boyfriend and girlfriend, best friends, or john and hooker. What little of the stilted, limited dialogue there is does more to confuse matters than clear them up. The film settles down once the drinking begins, and things become clearer. But by then, the viewer is so emotionally confused (who do you feel for? who do you root for? do these people matter?) that it is difficult to feel any connection for the characters or what is about to happen.
The subsequent transformation of the straight soft-core porn film to two men kissing (there is no soft-core gay porn here) is fraught with complexity that never is resolved. Was Tony bisexual to begin with? Or was he straight? Was he closeted gay or bi? His transition to (at least) bisexuality seems smooth and unconcerned, so it is stretching credulity to think that he was closeted gay or bi, or straight. Alliocha certainly does not rape Tony. Was it that Alliocha had anal sex with Tony that has Tony so upset? Perhaps Tony simply cannot deal with non-monogamy.
The names on the chests appears to be a clue. Tony wants Alliocha, badly. It is as if he has fallen in love with him at first sight. For her part, Chloe only wants Tony. But Alliocha is bisexual, and will love (or at least have sex with) them both. Alliocha's infidelity (he has sex with Chloe, and is more emotionally attracted to her) seems to break Tony's heart.
But if the names on the chests really have meaning in this manner, there is little reason -- either in the narrative or performances -- to believe it other than this. In fact, the whole film collapses in a morass of "what ifs" and "but thens" and "supposes". I'm not sure what to read into the fact that Alliocha is Russian or a foreigner (Russians can't love?). Is it that hookers can't love? (That's nonsense.)
The director also pushes the actors into telegraphing their internal emotions (Tony's sulking while being stimulated , for example). But if the character of Tony had really sulked so obviously, no lover or girlfriend would have kept the sex act going. And what are we to make of Chloe's breakdown at the end? The audience has known, even from the moment Alliocha walked in the door, that Tony was unhappy and upset. If Chloe is in love with Tony, and cares so deeply about his feelings, why did she force him to petulantly partake in the menage-a-trois?
The redeeming feature of this film is the acting. Gregory Barco is superb as the heartbroken, homosexual Tony. The almost childlike, forlorn look on his face in the opening scene is acting gold. His emotional breakdown -- an extremely difficult scene for even an experienced, trained actor to pull off realistically -- is heart-rending and raw. There is such realism to his performance! I very much want to see him act again.
Adrien Laligue is a bit harder to read, for Alliocha is written to be a stoic, unfeeling robot of a human being. Yet, he has a fluidness to his movement that makes his transition from heterosexual stud putting it to Chloe to bisexual lover of Tony that makes this transition appear seamless, natural and real. That's a crucial point in the film, for any forcedness or straining by either male actor here -- any heterosexual actor's hesitation, for example -- would destroy the believability of the moment. But Laligue pulls it off beautifully. I want to see him act more, as well.
Clemence Thioly's performance is good, but she doesn't quite get a firm handle on the role. Chloe veers from being a strong-willed but somewhat unfeeling and unaware woman seeking sexual adventure to a confused, insecure girl. She is not aided well by the script, which forces her character to stay in the bathtub, pondering the moment and not reacting to the pitiful sobs of her lover in the other room. Thus, when it comes time for her own character to break down during the night, it's much tougher to believe it.
This could have been such a better film, but it's worthwhile to check out the two jaw-dropping, damn good performances of the two lead males.
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