Perfect cast and a good story

Awesome Movie

Absolutely amazing

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Vincent, the teen aged student at a French high school in a suburb of Paris, struggles with himself because he knows that, deep down inside, he is gay and has no idea about how to come out to his friends and to his own family. Vincent didn't need to worry about it, his school mates will take care of that for him when they see Benjamin, the strange new boy at their school who is obviously attracted by Vincent.Naomie, Vincent's girlfriend has no clue of what's going on with him, even when he begins acting strange. Vincent's cover suddenly comes to an end when someone decided to write on the school's wall that Vincent is gay, something he was not prepared to do. Suddenly, his whole world comes tumbling down and it's his own brother who tells his parents about Vincent's sexual preference.Fabrice Cazeneuve, the director, presents the story of Vincent and how he tries to cope with his homosexuality. It's curious the screen play was written by Vincent Molina, whose story this might be, but since nothing is mentioned about it, we can only assume he was writing about his own experience. In fact, Vincent in the film is called Vincent Molina. For this being a French movie, the emphasis is on heterosexual sex concerning Noemie, the girlfriend, as she goes to bed with Vincent, who is trying to cover up his problem, and then, after finding out, she is seen bedding Stephane, a mutual friend.The film, which was made for French television, doesn't break any new ground. We have seen better movies based on similar situations conceived by American filmmakers. There are no shocking gay scenes in the movie, which seems to be of two minds about the subject. On the one hand, the relationship with Noemie plays a big part and Vincent's sexual exploration with Bruno, the boy he thought he liked, takes second place. Vincent is totally repulsed by what he experiences when he meets Bruno at the gay bars of the Marais. When he tries to be bold with Benjamin, his effort is met with skepticism from the other young man.Julien Baumgartner, appears as Vincent, the teen ager who realizes he is gay. Julia Marval, a beautiful young actress plays Noemie, the girl that loves Vincent. Jeremie Elkaim, is seen as Benjamin, the boy that awakens a passion in Vincent, and who at the end seems to be the one that truly loved him for himself.

A sensitive film about both "coming out" and "coming of age," "You'll Get Over It" tells of a 17-year-old French boy's efforts to deal with his homosexuality. A championship swimmer, Vincent is a popular, well-liked kid at school and the apple of his parents' eyes at home. The problem is that Vincent is living a lie, keeping his sexuality a secret from his family, his two best friends, and the world at large. When Vincent is seen "consorting" with a suspected gay student, all hell breaks loose and Vincent is forced to deal with not only the reactions of those around him but the roiling emotions taking place deep within himself about what exactly it means to be gay.Although the film feels a little too pat, contrived and melodramatic at times - kind of like an After School Special with subtitles and occasional flashes of nudity - "You'll Get Over It" wins us over with the delicacy, insight and compassion it brings to its subject. It shows us the myriad and sometimes surprising reactions from the people in Vincent's life - his parents, his "girlfriend," his best friend, his team mates, his swim coach and his teachers. The amount of outright persecution Vincent has to endure from his fellow students shows that even France - so often thought of as being in the forefront of all things sexual - has a long way to go in accepting gays. The movie also deals with Vincent's own conflicting feelings about being gay, as he contemplates a future filled with what he imagines to be loneliness and unhappiness. Like many gay people, Vincent lives in as much of a state of denial at times as the people around him.The performances are excellent, particularly those by Julien Baumgartner as Vincent and Julia Maravel as Noemie, the girl who loves him and wants to help him, but who finds it hard to let go of him even after she discovers the truth. Baumgartner has a very expressive face that allows us to understand and identify with the external and internal struggles taking place in his character's life.For the most part, "You'll Get Over It" has a nice, naturalistic feel to it. Director Fabrice Cazeneuve keeps his camera largely hand-held and close to the actors, which heightens the sense of realism and intimacy this type of story needs to be effective. Unfortunately, the plot mechanics do intrude a bit from time to time, and the ending, while touching, does feel a little too conveniently upbeat to be entirely convincing. Still, "You'll Get Over It" serves as a valuable plea for understanding and acceptance, and that is a salutary goal for any film.

"You'll Get Over It" ("À Cause d'un garcon") isn't half the film Téchiné's "Wild Reeds" is. But precisely because it works on a smaller canvas and is basically limited to the gay coming out theme, it has a special appeal for the gay audience. The film has had minimal distribution in the US, but will do well on the rental market. You have to admit that though it's nice to have a straightforward French coming out film, this one doesn't deal with the issue of the public image in school as firmly as the English "Get Real" does, nor does it deal with all the social and personal and physical issues of coming out as well as the American 'Edge of Seventeen' does. Nonetheless it does contain some peculiarly French aspects that give it special interest.Though Benjamin (Jérémie Elkaïm), -- the provocative, sexy boy who tempts Vincent (Julien Baumgartner) to kiss him, then pulls back and the next day meanly outs him -- isn't the main character, he certainly is the deus ex machina, and hence the French title, "Because of a Boy," does make more sense. Besides, at the end Benjamin is about to become Vincent's new lover.The old lover invites Vincent to come meet him at a gay bar in the Marais, and that attempt to master a gay scene and acquire a genuine gay support group is a terrible failure. The bar is depicted as a real meat rack where the young, fresh Vincent is seen purely as "merchandise." There's no hope of camaraderie, and Vincent flees in horror. A complete contrast to the trajectory of "Edge of Seventeen" and "Queer As Folk," in both of which the ingénue's finding a niche in a gay community is a major element of his successful coming out process. It's pretty pathetic that in a French school they don't know the word "gay" yet, and everybody refers to Vincent as a "pédé," which comes from pédéraste and suggests a child abuser, but has to be translated by its closest equivalent in the context, "fag." French attitudes may have their limitations, but Vincent hasn't got it so bad. He's a swim team star. He has a cute girlfriend and a straight best friend who both remain loyal after he's outed. The girlfriend, Noémie (Julia Maraval), being French, has no illusions – once she's been disillusioned, that is -- but, being French, is able to provide plenty of rational conversation to help Vincent understand what's going on in his life. She's also the one he runs to for consolation after each of his mini-crises. (The girlfriend in "Edge of Seventeen" also had conversations but they were a tad less rational.) The toughest part of the whole process for Vincent, perhaps, are the rebuffs and mean behavior of Benjamin, and above all the cruel rejections he gets from his mates on the swim team, which almost force him to withdraw from competition. Vincent's resentful "chaumeur" (jobless) brother is really resentful not so much of the gayness but of all the attention Vincent gets no matter what's going on with him.An interesting side issue – also something typical of the French milieu, is Vincent's literature teacher. The man, who comes across as soulful and cool in class, and whom the other faculty members may correctly guess is gay, nonetheless is closeted, and when he's asked to try to counsel Vincent, absolutely refuses; later he approaches Vincent clandestinely (you'd think they were spies) to admit how he is and offer odd, furtive encouragement.It's the straight swim coach who brings Vincent out of his funk on the basis of neutrality: "chacun à son gout" is his guiding principle: "Let's leave our personal lives out of this; we have a job to do: we want to win." Isn't this, also, a typically French approach -- not affirmative action but the live-and-let-live philosophy? As for Vincent's parents, they're splendid. Both declare that they love him no matter what, and even go so far as to timidly inquire if some day he will 'live openly with another man.' How often has this come up in a gay coming out film? The French think ahead. Of course, Vincent, who's pretty confused, can't really answer them yet. He still half wishes he could stick with Noémie, whom he's just had sex with for the first time when Benjamin outs him. Poor Noémie; a quick fling with Vincent's best friend lacks magic, and she winds up going off to be an au pair girl in America, fearing that the food will make her turn into a blimp. Everything is really a bit too easy in "You'll Get Over It." He "gets over it" way too quickly. But despite the claims of mainstream writers who profess to be utterly bored with multiple treatments of it, the gay coming out experience is still new enough on screen to need treatments for each language and each milieu, and this one deserves its small place in the canon.

It definitely was very risky to shoot a movie for prime-time Network television with such a sensitive subject. The director, Fabrice Cazeneuve, and all those who contributed deserve congratulations for that. But the most important is that they did not only tried, they succeeded, and made a *good* movie. Vincent is a 17 year old guy like most 17 year old guys. Everybody would think his primary distinction is to be the best swimmer of his high school team. But the hidden truth is that Vincent is gay, a truth that is suddenly revealed to everybody in the high school, which will change his life... This could have been a terrible movie. Its makers could have been too shy and erase all controversy. They could have only achieved to provoke. But, thanks to a marvelously, sensibly written script, they managed to walk the thin line in the middle. Most of what happens on the screen seems true, the characters definitely look like the people you live with every day. Congrats also have to go to the actors. Julien Baumgartner, Julia Maraval, Jérémy Elkaïm, François Comar and the rest of the cast are perfect, delivering a very touching and subtle performance."A cause d'un garçon" reaches the goal its authors probably set for themselves. The movie can both help straight people to understand and accept the gay people around them, and allow gay people to think to their own stories, maybe even incite them to make their coming out.If only TV could produce more movies like this!