The French Kissers
The French Kissers | |
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French | Les beaux gosses |
Directed by | Riad Sattouf |
Written by |
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Produced by | Anne-Dominique Toussaint |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Dominique Colin |
Edited by | Virginie Bruant |
Music by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by | Pathé |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Budget | $3,5 million |
Box office | $14.7 million[1] |
The French Kissers (French: Les beaux gosses, lit. 'The Handsome Kids'[2]) is a 2009 French teen sex comedy film co-written and directed by Riad Sattouf, in his feature directorial debut. The film follows Hervé (Vincent Lacoste), an average teenage boy who has little luck with finding a girlfriend until the beautiful Aurore (Alice Trémolières) takes a liking to him.
Sattouf, a graphic novel writer, was invited to write a script based on an idea from producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint, and he completed the screenplay with Marc Syrigas. Sattouf cast non-professional actors as the film's teenage characters, but he chose to use experienced actors such as Noémie Lvovsky, Irène Jacob, Emmanuelle Devos and Valeria Golino as the adult characters. Filming took place over eight weeks in Gagny and Rennes.
The film was released in France on 10 June 2009, and a soundtrack composed by Flairs was released on 8 June 2009. The film was well received by critics, who particularly praised the humour, the acting and the cinematography.
It won the
Plot
Hervé (Vincent Lacoste) is a teenage boy in junior high school with ordinary looks and middling grades, living with his single mother in a housing estate in Rennes. He and his best friend Camel (Anthony Sonigo) often fantasize about their female classmates and their mothers, but have less luck with girls in reality.
Hervé unsuccessfully pursues romances with various girls at his school, including with Laura (Julie Scheibling), who accepts his offer of a date as a joke. After Aurore (Alice Trémolières), a beautiful and popular girl at school, asks him on a date, they embark on an awkward relationship. Although Hervé and Camel are frequent masturbators, while both alone and together, Hervé and Aurore are slow to engage in sexual activity beyond kissing. Aurore eventually breaks up with Hervé when his friends try to grope her in a game of Dungeons & Dragons and she discovers that he lied to them about having sex with her.
The film concludes with the characters in high school; Hervé is dating Sabrina, Camel is dating Jenifer, Aurore is dating Wulfran, and Hervé's mother is married to Anas's father.
Cast
- Vincent Lacoste as Hervé
- Anthony Sonigo as Camel
- Alice Trémolières as Aurore
- Julie Scheibling as Laura
- Camille Andreys as Meryl
- Robin Nizan-Duverger as Benjamin
- Baptiste Huet as Loïc
- Simon Barbery as Mohamed
- Irwan Bordji as Anas
- Loreleï Chenet as Mégane
- Sihem Namani as Sadia
- Salomé Durchon as Nolwenn
- Noémie Billy as Océane
- Emma Gregory as Emma
- Thania Perez as Jenifer
- Lise Bordenave as Sabrina
- Louis Bankowsky as Goulven
- Nicolas Bouissy as Koulmen
- Pablo Eskenazi as Pablo
- Victorien Rolland as Wulfran
- Yanis Aït-Ali as Mahmoude
- Maya De Rio Campo as Leslie
- Florence Dottel as Françoise
- Noémie Lvovsky as Hervé's mother
- Irène Jacob as Aurore's mother
- Yannig Samot as Anas's father
- François Hassan Guerrar as Camel's father
- Christophe Vandevelde as Hervé's father
- Emmanuelle Devos as the principal
- Roch Amédet Banzouzi as the deputy principal
French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré makes a cameo appearance as the Physics professor.
Production
"In films, you see beautiful, handsome teenagers having intense love relationships at the age of 14. Or you have social movies with teenagers raped by their parents. [My friends and I] had an eventless life – nobody was interested in us – but we still had our frustrations. I wanted to show that."
—Riad Sattouf, writer/director[3]
Graphic novel writer Riad Sattouf had studied animation and had dreams of filmmaking,[4] but he thought that it would be too exhausting to write and re-write a script, find producers, find funding and censor his ideas to please others.[2] Sattouf had rejected several film offers before because they lacked creative freedom,[5] but he agreed when he was contacted by Anne-Dominique Toussaint, a film producer and a fan of Sattouf's graphic novels who wanted to make a teen film.[2] Sattouf wrote the first draft of the script and then asked screenwriter Marc Syrigas to help him to re-write it.[2] Rather than make a film about "the codes of today's teens, the way they talk, [or] their arsenal of electronic devices", Sattouf wanted to focus on "the intensity of their emotions".[2] He wanted to depict "the things that happen during teenage-hood that we don't show so often".[5]
Casting all of the characters in The French Kissers took place over three months.
Filming of The French Kissers lasted for eight weeks.[6] Some street scenes and interiors of Hervé's flat were filmed in Rennes, Brittany – where the film is set – but the budget was too small for substantial filming in Brittany, so Sattouf tried to find a college in the Paris suburbs that resembled his own in Rennes.[6] Most of the film's interior scenes were shot in Gagny in Paris's eastern suburbs at the Madame-de-Sévigné de Gagny and Eiffel de Gagny colleges.[7] Sattouf used close-ups and unusual compositions when filming the teenagers to "feel their animal side". There was little camera movement to show "there is some heaviness in them; the world is turning around them, they are their own prisoners".[8] He wanted the camera to be held "so close that you could feel their oily skin, every imperfection, and smell their [body odour]".[2]
Soundtrack
Les beaux gosses: Bande originale du film | |
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Soundtrack album by various artists | |
Released | 8 June 2009 |
Length | 37:03 |
Label | Naïve Records |
The film's original music was written by French electropop musician Lionel Flairs, who performs under the moniker Flairs. It was his first composition for film. When he was approached by Sattouf to compose the soundtrack, Flairs was reluctant because he preferred total freedom when writing music, but after he agreed he enjoyed collaborating with Sattouf. The soundtrack is less like Flairs's usual "happy pop" because Sattouf wanted a sad feel to reflect the sadness in the characters' lives.[5]
No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Hervé et Leslie et le rateau" | Vincent Lacoste, Maya De Rio Campo | 0:08 |
2. | "Levretto" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 2:21 |
3. | "Hervé et le linge sale" | Vincent Lacoste, Noémie Lvovsky | 0:11 |
4. | "Poursuite!" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:48 |
5. | "On s'sert les coudes" | Moktar Nassif Et Les Cousins Hariri | 1:59 |
6. | "Hervé, Camel et la Redoute" | Vincent Lacoste, Anthony Sonigo | 0:06 |
7. | "Les mystères de la branlette" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:40 |
8. | "Radio chaussette" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:37 |
9. | "Maman la coquine" | Noémie Lvovsky | 0:04 |
10. | "Ici ou là" | Moktar Nassif Et Les Cousins Hariri | 1:27 |
11. | "Aurore Vole" | Vincent Lacoste, Alice Trémolières | 0:32 |
12. | "Bus" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:55 |
13. | "Anas et la bite humaine" | Irwan Bordji | 0:12 |
14. | "Mettre les voiles" | Ginny Goldswinger | 1:54 |
15. | "Hervé, Camel et les femmes matures" | Vincent Lacoste, Anthony Sonigo | 0:26 |
16. | "La danse du ragga" | Ric | 3:58 |
17. | "Hervé, Camel et les coulaisons" | Vincent Lacoste, Anthony Sonigo, Frédéric Neidhart | 0:34 |
18. | "Run Camel!" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:31 |
19. | "Pub rencontres bretonnes" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:13 |
20. | "Parc" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:59 |
21. | "Pub festival de rap breton" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:26 |
22. | "Aurore et le secret des filles" | Vincent Lacoste, Alice Trémolières | 0:47 |
23. | "Éjaculo" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 1:07 |
24. | "Hervé, Mégane, le rateau" | Vincent Lacoste, Loreleï Chenet | 0:14 |
25. | "Téléphone arabe" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 1:14 |
26. | "Hervé le lover" | Vincent Lacoste, Anthony Sonigo | 0:18 |
27. | "Baby" | Booba | 4:32 |
28. | "Camel l'arabe de Satan" | Anthony Sonigo, Thania Perez | 0:07 |
29. | "Bus 2" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 0:26 |
30. | "Hervé aime" | Vincent Lacoste, Alice Trémolières | 0:44 |
31. | "Scooter Blanc" | Flairs, Riad Sattouf | 1:57 |
32. | "You Think You're a Man" | The Vaselines | 5:36 |
Reception
Critical reviews of The French Kissers were positive.
References
- ^ "Les beaux gosses (2009)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ^ Palace Films. 2009. Archived from the original(PDF) on 12 October 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ a b Maddox, Garry (21 December 2009). "Ultimate revenge of ugliest in class". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Monier, Guillaume (June 2009). "Sale gosse?" (in French). Evene. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d Gordon, Bob. "The French Kisers: The Young And The Restless". X-Press Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 March 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ a b Steinlen, Claire (18 June 2009). "Ciné. Riad Sattouf, beau gosse rennais". Le Télégramme (in French). Archived from the original on 21 June 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Corcier, Marjorie (16 June 2009). "C'est le collège des " Beaux Gosses "". Le Parisien (in French). Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Carmelo, Bruno (15 May 2009). "Interview: Riad Sattouf". NISIMAZINE. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Kelly, Brendan (30 October 2009). "Review: Les beaux gosses (The French Kissers)". The Gazette. Archived from the original on 23 June 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- Filmink. Archived from the originalon 5 March 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Goodridge, Mike (8 June 2009). "The French Kissers (Les Beaux Gosses)". Screen International. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Byrge, Duane (18 May 2009). "Les beaux gosses -- Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Mintzer, Jordan (18 May 2009). "The French Kissers". Variety. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- At the Movies. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the originalon 16 June 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Paatsch, Leigh (24 December 2009). "Leigh Paatsch Film Review - The French Kissers". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
External links
- The French Kissers at IMDb
- The French Kissers at AllMovie