Watch Because of a Boy For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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.

Although I enjoyed watching this movie at first, on second thought I noticed quite a few inconsistencies. The story is about a gay teenager who is outed in school, and how his life is made quite impossible because of this. The young protagonist, Vincent, finds himself ousted from his 'straight' peers, and neither does he feel at home in the 'gay' scene of Paris. The screenplay writer has done a good job at showing how even in modern Western societies, where laws are more and more granting equal rights to gay people, real life is still a far cry from egalitarian. Homosexuality is accepted, as long as you wait till you finish school, and don't demonstrate romantic displays of kissing in public, except in gay ghetthoes like the Parisian Marais. Whereas the screenplay-writer has tried to make this point, the director of the film then goes on to make exactly the mistake of treating straight erotic scenes and romantic storylines, differently to the gay ones. There are many and long 'sex' scenes between Vincent and his girl-friend, whom we constantly see nude on the bed, but very few and not very explicit gay 'sex' scenes. If we have to see Vincent give oral sex to his girlfriend, why can we not see the same between him and another guy? When Vincent meets up with his sex-buddy, we see a few quick kisses, which are immediately followed by him leaving the shower. The 'romantic love story between Vincent and the Jeremy Elkaim character is also rather sparsely portrayed. More focus is given to the the demise of the relation between Vincent and his 'girlfriend', rather than the blossoming of love between the two guys, which has been the catalyst for his outing in the first place. *spoiler*The final scene is supposed to tell us that Vincent has finally reached 'freedom'. Vincent and his new boyfriend are seen running in the park, in love, but when they tumble down on the grass, just before they 'french' kiss each other properly, the camera moves away, and the end credits appear.Why have the gay erotic scenes and the gay romantic storyline not been portrayed equally to the straight ones? It smacks of internalized homophobia of the director. A movie that's supposed to be about the liberation and equality of gays, should then not demonstrate exactly the opposite visually, or should I say by lack of showing it!A pity, I think the screenplay deserved a better directorial execution.Some questions that are left unanswered:If Vincent has to train for a sports scholarship by himself because his swim mates cannot stand to be with a 'gay' in the same pool, then how will Vincent deal with this problem when he goes to University, where he no doubt will encounter the same discrimination? Unless he keeps himself in the closet there again.The excuse given to why Jeremy Elkaim's character did not kiss Vincent at first, is rather odd. Why could their relationship not develop properly?In the end I even start to believe that this is a gay movie for a straight public, and the director wants to spare that audience too much explicit gay material. A decision which is quite offensive towards gay people.

I'll never get tired of cute-gay-boys-coming-out stories, and this is no exception. But it left me a little hollow. The storyline with dealing with his parents is left unfinished, as it is especially with his brother, who rejects him seemingly out of homophobia but whose true issues are revealed, and undealt-with, in his last scene. The subplots with the homophobic teammates, the sympathetic teacher, and the older sex partner were also left as loose ends.The scene with the creepy Marais was completely gratuitous, with friends of Vincent's sex partner who fling themselves at him in a way that seemed not just slimy but completely unrealistic, as well.In all, I thought that "Get Real" was a more masterful treatment of a very similar subject, and "Edge of Seventeen" better still. But this one is certainly a feast for the eyes, and if you like the "aawwwwwww! he's cute and gay and 17 and coming out!" factor as much as I do, this won't waste your time.

This is a beautiful film about a seventeen-year-old swimming champion who is sexually outed in high school, and rather than deny his gayness, admits it and then gets to work dealing with it. I saw this at a gay film festival under the name of "You'll Get Over It," but I gather it was originally shown on prime time television in France, where I hope it reached a broad audience. Bravo to the French, who seem to be the masters of all things regarding love and sensuality.The lead character's name, Vincent Molina, is the also the name of the writer of the screenplay. I wonder how autobiographical this story is? Generally, I wouldn't recommend that a young gay guy come out until he is free and on his own in the world, not living under the roof of his parents or still in repressive, dangerous high school. But then again, to follow such a recommendation would be to waste so many precious, significant years when the hormones are screaming and the participants are at the peak of their physical beauty. How many of us would love to have the chance to go back to those days and this time do them right? Sure, as this movie so well shows, coming out at such an early age is extremely difficult emotionally, socially, and physically, and to do so is definitely beyond the abilities of most. But to do so is also phenomenally empowering to those who manage it. The huge set-back and loss in status that seems to accompanying coming out is later revealed to be merely pulled backward in a SLINGSHOT, after which there is a letting go and a powerful projection forward that puts one far, far ahead in the game.Vincent, the swimmer, has a lot to lose. He's a beloved athletic champion with adoring fans, he has a luscious girlfriend who loves him and with whom he is having sex, he has respectful teammates and a best friend, and parents for whom he is the apple of their eye. He also has a male sex partner on the sly, but even though Vincent's true nature is better known by the sex partner, that's about all that the sex partner knows or cares about, so the relationships that truly matter are with the others in Vicent's life who did not know about his true sexual orientation.Despite the beauty and sensitivity of the film, and the story of the hero being a gay student instead of it being a misfit, what really keeps this from being a typical teenage coming out story is the masterful ability of the lead actor to express the complexity of the emotions via his use of the interplay of subtle facial expressions. A lot of the time he seems to be in a state of blank questioning, as if he were not sure what to do next, and that if he were going to proceed, it would have to be very cautiously. And yet, it is clear that from now on, he will only proceed genuinely--he was aware that previously he had been using a mask (and it was his only shame), but now he isn't sure how to dispense with the mask or what will compose his face now that the mask is gone, he only knows that he won't be able to use a mask any more. His every step would take him into unknown territory, and the actor genuinely expresses the reality of those insecurities and the feelings of hopes, fears, wishes, disappointments, hurts, promises, comfort-seeking, sexual interest, and more, all playing out a fascinating symphony across his face.The movie is clear that the burden of self-identity rests clearly on the shoulders of the individual, but it also underscores the principle that helpmates will come out of the woodwork to support a genuine individual who is willing to be real. The losses are painful, but the gains bring an overriding joy that is beyond measure.