A Brilliant Conflict

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

There aren't many reviews here and for the most part they are negative but apparently these reviewers didn't watch the film I just saw because this film is hot, hot, hot! I never saw so much pee-pee in my life! Aroused pee-pee at that! And the hetero sex is just as hot. This film has it all. Okay, so it has a very depressing premise which is drug addiction and that is not a pretty picture but good gracious who can take his eyes off the male lead who looks like a Michelangelo sculpture! I sure couldn't. And even when the film got so abstract you could not figure out what is going on, the male lead kept my attention because you are just riveted to him and that's what makes a star. And this guy has got it in spades!

Antoine, a handsome boy in his 20s, falls for a straight best friend who does not reciprocate, and being a junkie exits the film quite early. Enter a girl, who seems to make him happy again, after he has tried living as a rent boy with men, having some familial, financial difficulties. But the girl is a junkie too. The only healthy looking guy in the film, someone Antoine meets as a rent boy, is Baptiste, who even offers him a job, and seems to really care for him. His infatuation with the girl has a self-destructive note echoing the self-destructiveness of his paramours, perhaps Baptiste excepted, who is the only one proclaiming love; and in the end all three end up in a sort of confrontation, the promise of a confrontation that is supposed to echo in the spectator.For what reason one does not gather. The film borrows avant-garde techniques but not a scenario, falling short on that side: not quite impressionistic, not quite developing characters, it remains inconclusive, not in a favorable way. And that makes it a bit toxic, as if it wants to dwell in an underworld with some clear, good-hearted motivation but in a way the soundtrack betrays it with its pop/rock exposure; not maudit enough, it has stayed underwater longer than it should have. Its dream remains water-bewitched.

French film about a twenty-something guy in love with his straight best friend, who dies of a drug OD. Guy supports himself as a rent boy for a while, then falls for a girl, and tries to go straight. She turns out to be another drug addict, tragedy ensues. Amateurish, tedious, self-indulgent and boring. The first half hour is unbearable – impressionistic and silly. Improves a little once it changes to a more conventional narrative style. The photography is awful – long shaky hand-held camera shots, dark red lenses, silly games. Lots of full frontal nudity and some hardcore sex, but not erotic, it's filmed in a gritty, unpleasant way to tell us it's just desperate and sick. These are ugly, worthless people, with not an iota of interest. We learn so little about them that it's impossible to care what happens to them. Who are they? Who cares? Not I. Skip it. (Based on a short film, seldom a good sign.)

I could not disagree more with the comment I read on here. yes, this film has style and a lot of it and it should make the French proud, but ALSO, it is deep and have lots of substance- it is moving at times and I do not remember seeing a film with such remarkable sexy scenes. Many times I felt like I was inside a two hour perfume commercial.... but what a beautiful commercial it is. It was like something out of an Obsession commercial - that is how beautiful it was to watch and experience. I found the main characters plight profound to say the least and I could relate to him and his insesant quest for dysfunctional relationships. What was even more touching is how within all the stylistic feel of the film the grim reality overpower us and we get to see the true depressing reality...sometimes there is no good ending and love comes in many packages and u must experience it to the fullest while its hot!.... highly, highly, highly recommend this film.