Because of a Boy (2002)

Simply A Masterpiece

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It seems that French TV films about Teenagers coming out Gay, are much more adult & less sensationalistic than ours here in the US.We have a young 17 year old High School student & a champion on its swim team, inadvertently brought out by another student. The film concerns itself with the various reactions of his family, fellow students & team members,friends, both male & one loves female student. Julien Baumgartner is our young hero in only his 3rd role.The lad is very handsome & can act, he may become a major player in the future.The acting & all the production credits are quite good. The only quibble I have we have one tame hetero sex scene BUT no gay one.Ratings *** (out of 4) 87 points (out of 100) IMDb 8 (out of 10)

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.

Well, we've seen this same story how many times now? But this film is a sensitive and realistic retelling. Well-written, -acted, and -executed. I was moved, and what's more important than that? Some minor drawbacks: (1) the soundtrack is an atrocious, Casio-quality distraction better suited for porn; (2) speaking of porn, I have no objection to nudity, but it seems strange that all the sex scenes are heterosexual in a gay-themed film, and (3) the subtitles are terrible. Even with my limited French, it was clear that a lot of meaning is lost in the translation. And, for an American the very British-English subtitles are jarring in a film about teens (lots of "fancy that, chap"). Do English teens talk like that? I noticed a lot of French slang, but the translation is stilted and, well, British. Worth a rental.

I expected a lot of this movie, that is why I was terriblydisappointed. The German title "Alles wegen Benjamin" made methink that Benjamin was one of the main characters, but in fact, hedidn't appear in most of the film. I didn't even understand why heshould have been the reason for that suddenly everybody thoughtVincent was gay. I read a lot of plot summaries before watchingthis movie, and it always seemed to me as if there would be a kindof relationship between Vincent and Benjamin. At least, Vincenthad a sort-of-boyfriend, Bruno, but he was a very weak characterand not so important for the story. It was not a bad movie after all, quite realistic and sensitive. Iprobably would have liked it a lot if I hadn't expected more tohappen between the two boys. "À Cause D'un Garçon" was one ofthe better kind of coming-out movies, although there were stillmany things that could have been better. But only because it didn'tfulfill my imaginations, this doesn't have to mean that nobody willlike it!