"Stranger by the Lake" (2014)

The secluded summer beach is used by gay men for cruising. There is an unspoken understanding that this is its purpose. No women are present and only one straight man Henri (Patrick d'Assumçao), given furtive side glances, goes to the beach, sitting off sadly by himself. 

Though at first this sounds like a welcome opportunity for uncertain, lonely gay men like Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), Stranger by the Lake digs into the underlying isolation and sadness underneath. 

Director Alain Guiraudie (who also scripted) shoots the entire film for maximum frankness; the sex scenes don’t hide any of the untidiness of the sexual arrangements or the sex itself (full male genitalia is on display often throughout the film). 

There is a certain messiness to what takes place. In an early sexual encounter, Franck sneaks away with a lover into the woods and the best spot they can find is one where trash and used condoms must be brushed aside. 

Franck is young and hopelessly romantic but even his idealizing can’t help cover the apparent seediness to this location and the sexual encounters. This is a place and time for gay men to find sex and to temporarily feel less dissatisfied with their lives and their sexual orientations. 

The events of the film take place over a few days during a summer. Franck claims he comes here most summers (a statement that becomes sadder the more you consider it). Franck befriends Henri and they bond; they seem to make a connection due to mutual loneliness and disaffection. Henri has recently broken up with his girlfriend and though he claims to have had sex with men and be okay with it, we sense that nothing will happen between these two. They’re simply both outsiders trying to feel less unmoored. 

Franck has some sexual encounters but truly wishes to be with the older, unavailable Michel (Christophe Paou). Michel starts off involved with another man, but he eventually shifts his interest to Franck who is ecstatic and hopes it will turn into something more serious. Michel refuses to make their relationship be anything more then sex.

Late in the film Michel’s former lover disappears (after Franck witnesses Michel murdering him, raising interesting questions of who is this person?) and shows up days later drowned. Suddenly, Stranger by the Lake becomes a tense thriller that it was hard to imagine it previously had in it. A police detective begins asking questions and Franck’s life feels increasingly like it’s in danger as he strangely pursues Michel in spite of his knowledge. It’s the ultimate statement of the risk individuals take by putting themselves in these situations; connection is a possibility but there are unfortunate dangers attached to certain human desires.

Grade: B+