Bang Gang: A Modern Love Story (2015) User Reviews

"Profoundly mediocre", according to one of its characters...

[euroGary · 5/10 · 10 October 2015]

'Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)' is based on true events, but it's hard to imagine even a French father, upon discovering his sixteen year-old son has been attending orgies, being laid-back enough to describe it as "profoundly mediocre", as happens here! When a game of Spin the Bottle gets a more adult twist, a group of teenagers from a nice middle-class area of town fall into having impromptu orgies. Against this background various other stories play out: the Lothario (Finnegan Oldfield - if he's as Irish as his name suggests he's got a superb French accent - to my English ears, anyway!) who uses the opportunity to toy with the affections of two girls; and the musician, carer for his disabled father, who stands apart from the crowd while lusting after one of the girls. But the film seems to have no focus until near its end when, faced with the consequences of their actions, the teenagers are revealed as just that - irresponsible teenagers, and not as sophisticated as they'd imagined themselves to be.

Even though there is a deal of nudity in the film, there's little eroticism: the rock-video editing means the viewer is rarely sure exactly who's bits he's looking at! The film made little impression on me; in fact, I spent most of it thinking what horrendous underwear everyone was wearing, and worrying about the fate of the hamster.

French Ménage a 'loads' in this teen drama

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 6/10 · 22 August 2016]

** Please Note Slight Plot Spoiler ahead** This is an unusual film in that it is dealing with middle class teenagers who decide to let it all hang out – literally and then the curse of the social media gets involved. It is told around the main character of a young man who is a silver tongued charmer and extremely manipulative.

He gets other teenagers to join him in his sexual dalliances and they party where anything goes. What starts out as a 'bit of fun' soon takes on a much darker hue and it is a very interesting journey for all involved.

Now this is the sort of film where I felt not a lot happened – it is a slow build up. However, when you sit back and think about it, then I realised that there was a lot more subtleties going on which actually needed the build up to work. The acting is all fine and there is a fair bit of nudity. If you like your films fast and the plot spelled out then this will probably be one to avoid, but if you are up for a bit of Gallic indiscretion then you may well find something here to like.

Avoid

[Bored_Dragon · 4/10 · 9 November 2016]

I have nothing against explicit sex in movies when it has a function to make the story stronger and leave a deeper impression. Of course, I like good porn too. But when a movie that is not porn is based on two hours of sex and nudity while there's no relevant story, that is simply a crappy movie. Neither it tells a good story, nor shows good sex. I want my two hours back.

4/10

It's 3AM, do you know who your kids are doing?

[lazarillo · 28 June 2016]

With even theatrical French films being largely financed by television these days, it's perhaps not surprising so much modern French cinema is devoted to "social problem" films like this. Although this is allegedly based on a true story, I don't know that middle-class teenagers engaging in wild sex orgies is really all that widespread of social problem even in France (although I'm sure a lot of horny male teenagers probably WISH it was a widespread social problem). More likely this was a "man-bites-dog" story that got attention from the French media because it was UNUSUAL, not because it was necessarily typical of what a lot of French teens are up to these days.

Still, if this were an American film, it would undoubtedly be either much more alarmist or much more exploitative (or perhaps both in the case of something like Larry Clark's "Kids"). This film, however, remains fairly non-judgmental and realistic. Its three protagonists--a shy male musician and two girls who get played by the same smooth-talking "player"--are realistic and sympathetic, even if the background given of their problems and their home-life doesn't really account for why they would become juvenile swingers. But I suppose teenagers don't necessarily need any more excuses to be sexually promiscuous than adults do.

It's probably not a coincidence that there are a lot more French films about middle-class teenage or college students who become prostitutes ("Student Services", "Young and Beautiful") or all decide to get pregnant ("17 Filles") or engage in sex orgies like this then there are about teenagers who do their homework, generally listen to their parents, and are focused on getting into a good university. Still, this film is not nearly as exploitative as it COULD be. There is a fair amount of nudity (actually more male than female), but it's not all that shocking since all the actors look at least five years too old to actually BE teenagers. (They're all pretty attractive too in the naturalistic French way). Still, I miss the more old-style French films that are more arty and/or literary and personal and are focused on singular characters as opposed to "real", but frankly also quite boring, people.

Sex, nudity and the mundane existence of middle class teenagers

[subxerogravity · 5/10 · 22 June 2016]

A group of kids in France start an orgy party. It sounds like a great idea, so I went to go see it.

The story was there but was not that much of a focus to drive the movie. More so the characters in the movie were more interesting as well as their personal sub plots: Alex, a 17 year old boy who seems lost being all by himself with no adult supervision. Gabriel, who's having some real issues at home with his father's accident and tries to escape in his music. George, the most stereotypical story of a hot girl who got the attention of a hot guy than lost that guy's attention after having sex with him and tries to cope and Laetitia who's not getting any attention and is looking for excitement. Some decent acting is going on, good enough to make me want to watch.

I feel like the movie is trying to teach some young kids a lesson about the cautions of group sex, but I guess because it's based on a true story is the reason why the lesson was so weak.

It's cool that they are keeping true to the story and the focus on some of the characters was enjoyable, but I must warn you, it does go on and on without nothing really happening, and it's more about relating to what is going on.

I did like it, I can't help it because nudity and sex is involved, but I took nothing from it.

Teen Love

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 10 July 2020]

Although some may argue: Is it really love? And the movie dives into questions about how young people on the verge of growing up and into adulthood, absorb things and live with them. It is not just an excuse to make fun or be too negative about current social media consumption or how teens choose to do things and their value system.

In a world where almost everything is oversexed, how will that impact those who have quite the sex drive? Interesting theme, with perspectives from both sexes and scenes that feel real - even when they recreate "porn". This has a lot of nudity obviously and it might not be for everyone to watch. It's an interesting attempt to show us something without judging too much. We even see the family lifes ... with all their sadness sometimes. You can't even blame parents all the time ... it's a weird life and might get even weirder - not that cancel culture and other things will likely help ... remember: not allowing somethings will provoke. It is better to educate rather then just shut down! So maybe there is some bright light in the future? Will the movie give us that message or will it stay neutral?

Love Story It Is NOT.

[ewileaver-42-989985 · 1/10 · 18 April 2020]

About immature teenagers doing drugs, smoking weed and having sex with no concerns about the consequences. #Terrible

A long seemingly aimless movie surrounds a five-second political advertisement near the end (I won't say what)

[dsgoorevitch · 1/10 · 28 December 2018]

Only the French can make a movie entirely about sex this aimless, pointless, thoughtless, pretentious, and boring. The metaphors were crude, obvious, and unimaginative. The "conclusions" were like something one finds on a milk carton, a cigarette pack, or a fifteen-second commercial message from the local public health office. The writer couldn't be bothered to do elementary research so used creative giants like Van Gogh and Nietzsche as throwaway figures who "died of syphilis," showing a level of arrogance, entitlement, and hubris that makes silly American kids in their flicks look positively dutiful, mature, stoical, and heroic by comparison. Van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the belly, not syphilis. There is no evidence that Nietzsche ever had sex, period, a level of loneliness so heartbreaking it underscores my conviction that the writer of this trash, standing on tiptoe, couldn't reach the bottom of either man's boot.

Just think you're 16 and unexperienced, this movie will be a treat.

[ThureLindhardt · 8/10 · 21 September 2018]

It's so hard to give an 8 to a movie with an average of 5 and a metascore of 50, but I guess sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling. I'm thinking about 'Bang Gang', the story we would only find in a young adult book that was written in six months time, but after a first view has proven to be a decent study of character and of the consequences of group dynamics. The effects of sex outside relationships are shown, but one may raise the question: Is the idea of this free sex without bonding explicitly rejected? Not really. You simply decide for yourself what moral lesson is to be learned. Because even though everyone ends up with diseases, there is also stress on the fun of experimenting for as long as it lasts. Unlike other movies, in this film the viewer can determine what is right or wrong.

Most of all, it's a movie that shows what many adolescents would like to experience, but are afraid of at the same time. What if you have sex with just 'anyone'? Can you still really show your love to the person you love, who has been faithful to only giving his or her body to an actual soulmate? This movie surely shows what it's like, both in a positive and in a negative way. Watch the movie with a free mind and think of the fantasies you had as a 16 year old. I know that my own shy and slender self would have thought it eye-opening to look into this adventurous world for 90 minutes, without any consequences.

A Superb Depiction of Teenage Ennui, Loneliness, Lust

[carolinemcb-91317 · 10/10 · 16 June 2017]

As a teenager, there are many depictions of teenage sexuality that I find have followed their own successful formula for so long that they fail to depict modern adolescent sexuality accurately. Bang Gang is indeed, as it is billed as, a "modern love story". In particular, the impact of social media on the psyches and voyeuristic attitudes of my generation are perfectly encompassed. Within director Eva Husson's spectacle, there are familiar themes: the need to be wanted, to be set apart from the herd, the loneliness that comes with attaining your fantasies and finding that they are not enough (read: the scene in which Alex, high on vice, stumbles completely naked out to the pool–where teenagers are copulating and filming it all on camera for online distribution–and plunges in, attempting to shut everything out). As a teenager, there was always a certain orgiastic essence to house parties, people sneaking off to bathrooms and guest bedrooms to hook up, spin the bottle and escalating dares, so that the possibilities of such an event happening, as it did in real life, do not seem far-fetched. The imagery and cinematography of the movie is spectacular. The control of light and palette is exquisite, so that a normally vulgar tableau–consider Harmony Korine's "Kids", all grit and no softness–is rendered soft and ambient. There are some shots that could come straight out of a pre-Raphaelite painting. And maybe that's what's so beautiful about this movie; youth isn't some dispensable, ephemeral quantity of life, regardless of its course, youth does guide our lives, and teaches us that to be happy, you have to risk being hurt.

A modern love story: Of sorts indeed

[writersmorgue · 10/10 · 17 October 2022]

Although, Bang Gang forwardly touches on specific true events had by the curiosities, desires and boredom of the modern-teenage life, it well captures the freedom and the euphoric/dejected, consciousness in the quick moving life-span of these events in teen life today. It feels as though instead of experiencing these fast moments (like things often seemed as a teenager), it's like we're on the back-burner of their minds, watching in a cinematic sense and taking in the subtle details. Playfully reckless actions taken, lust, the sudden bursts of excitement, wanting to feel alive, wanting to be wanted and eventually wishing to be left alone VS the common crowd. Feelings that I believe are commonly amplified in teen years. Whether you are now an adult or a teen looking to view this film, afterwards you may think that this movie depicts nothing more than bad decisions and the lewd minds of youth today; or that maybe this display of teen life is but yet another overrated tale of many. But as an adult who appreciates French films and this common preference for the essence of a moment expressed (which most would view as a dull, simplistic happening in a scene), the director did well to display emotion through the characters actions, down to their very gestures, keying into longing; annoyance, lust, love, sadness, joy, coping and the journey onward after a summer's end of fun with little to no responsibility.

This movie made me appreciate my past teen years even more so. Fleeting moments experienced, the friends and strangers met, good and bad, it all plays as a certain structure in our subconscious learning as we grow into our future selves and venture into adulthood, and man does it fly by.

In the movie, Laetitia mention's how everything went by so fast, feeling like a dream. There's this look of heavy thought expressed on her face, perhaps reminiscing..

And then it's on to the next thing.

sexual freedom y'all!

[RainbowVic · 10/10 · 30 November 2022]

As a teenager, there are many depictions of teenage sexuality that I find have followed their own successful formula for so long that they fail to depict modern adolescent sexuality accurately. Bang Gang is indeed, as it is billed as, a "modern love story". In particular, the impact of social media on the psyches and voyeuristic attitudes of my generation are perfectly encompassed. Within director Eva Husson's spectacle, there are familiar themes: the need to be wanted, to be set apart from the herd, the loneliness that comes with attaining your fantasies and finding that they are not enough (read: the scene in which Alex, high on vice, stumbles completely naked out to the pool-where teenagers are copulating and filming it all on camera for online distribution-and plunges in, attempting to shut everything out). As a teenager, there was always a certain orgiastic essence to house parties, people sneaking off to bathrooms and guest bedrooms to hook up, spin the bottle and escalating dares, so that the possibilities of such an event happening, as it did in real life, do not seem far-fetched. The imagery and cinematography of the movie is spectacular. The control of light and palette is exquisite, so that a normally vulgar tableau-consider Harmony Korine's "Kids", all grit and no softness-is rendered soft and ambient. There are some shots that could come straight out of a pre-Raphaelite painting. And maybe that's what's so beautiful about this movie; youth isn't some dispensable, ephemeral quantity of life, regardless of its course, youth does guide our lives, and teaches us that to be happy, you have to risk being hurt.