Alienated Loner Hitches His Hopes, January 25, 2004
By interested_observer "interested_observer" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

L'homme blesse (The Wounded Man) is a melancholy French film showing the progression from emptiness to hopefulness to despair of a young man seeking to build a new life, but with the wrong boyfriend.
Henri Borowiecki (played by the best actor in the film, Jean-Hughes Anglade) coexists with his indifferent family in a city. On a trip to the train station to see his sister off somewhere, he comes into contact with dangerous, sexy Jean Lerman (played by Vittorio Mezzogiorno) in a men's room and makes himself noticed by a rich voyeur, Bosmans (played by Roland Bertin). Henri finds Jean irresistible and keeps going to the train station to seek him. After a bit of gamesmanship, Jean takes Henri home, where Jean's girlfriend Elisabeth (played by Lisa Kreuzer) also lives. Mutual mischief sets in. Jean sets a trap for Henri, who falls in and tries to recover by recasting the deal and his relationsip with Jean. Jean hides out. Cute hustlers tempt Henri. Voyeur Bosmans persuades Henri for a date, during which Jean shows up. After Jean stages some hot-looking action, Jean and Henri flee. Henri wants to get closer, but Jean plays one more bad trick on Henri. Bosmans arranges a non-standard meeting of Henri and Jean and promises not to peek. The movie goes to its climax.

The strength of the film is Anglade's ability to show the emotional arc of Henri's needy, desperate, but laconic character. Henri doesn't feel comfortable opening up to others. He talks some to Elisabeth and would like to be close to Jean. Unlike the stereotypical French movie, there is not much theorizing dialogue; Anglade has to use his expressions and body language to convey his meanings, and he does it well.

The other main characters do all right, especially Vittorio Mezzogiorno (Jean).

Henri and Jean provide excellent skin shots and erotic action, Henri going the distance.

There were some unexplained items, for which I invented my own stories. Since the characters reveal little backstory or talk about what happens when Henri is not present, the audience has to choose how to fill in the gaps. What was the nature of the Bosmans - Jean relationship? What motivates Jean's treatment of Henri? Why does Henri's family say nothing of his going to school or getting a job? Why does Henri have no friends his own age? Why won't he go to a men's club? Why was Bosmans seemingly so generous at the end? I'm not giving my answers.

The picture quality often seems grainy and not sharp, which are extra noticable in the many night or darkened room scenes. If there were a remastering, it might make a difference.

There are no chapter breaks on the DVD. The sole DVD extras are the trailers to six other movies.

I would have liked a commentary by Anglade and writer/director Patrice Chereau to fill in the gaps I mentioned above and also discuss the 1983 French take on bisexuality (Jean), gay relationships, public kissing, kids living at home, and the role of ID papers. If there were a trailer, making-of, behind the scenes, deleted scenes etc., it would be even better.

This is a good movie to watch and then exercise one's imagination on. Some relationships are better not started.