Stranger by the Lake (2013)
At a cruising spot near a lake, Franck falls in love with Michael, a handsome and lethally dangerous man. Even though Franck is aware of this, he chooses to follow his passion.
- Alain Guiraudie
- Alain Guiraudie
Rating: 6.3/10 by 425 users
Alternative Title:
裸滩猎J - HK
湖畔春光 - TW
Fremmed ved sjøen - NO
Stranac na jezeru - RS
Strainul de pe malul lacului - RO
Zarim al sfat ha'agam - IL
Idegen a tónál - HU
Ο άγνωστος της λίμνης - GR
El desconocido del lago - ES
Der Fremde am See - DE
호수의 이방인 - KR
Country:
France
Language:
Français
Runtime: 01 hour 40 minutes
Budget: $1,400,000
Revenue: $1,200,000
Plot Keyword: lake, drowning, detective, cruising, investigation, love, murder, loneliness, male homosexuality, ejaculation, skinny dipping, summer, swimming, mustache, sexual desire, stranger, lgbt, exhibitionism, casual sex, companionship, sunbathing, gay theme
A skillful Hitchcockian thriller weakened by a slack tempo--which does, to approach from another perspective, give one ample opportunity to admire the gorgeous cinematography and sound--and some unnecessarily/distractingly explicit sex. An ending would have been nice.
A rather well shot, but pedestrian affair about good-looking young man "Franck" who frequents a gay cruising area on a lake shore and falls for a stranger. Around the same time, an ex-lover of the stranger is found drowned. What makes this film interesting is that both we, and him, know what happened and yet he decidedly refuses to co-operate with the police and puts himself and others at considerable risk. Is it infatuation or indifference or both? This is an oddly arid piece of cinema. At best it shows this cruising community as indifferent to the crime; and worst to a callousness that is quite shudderingly numb and unbelievably inhuman.
