the terror of showering with a gay man
by Douglas Messerli
Romain Roellet (screenwriter and
director) Jean est tombé amoureux (Jean Fell in Love) / 2022 [20
minutes]
Gay films about sports figures,
alas, tend to repeat one another and are highly predictable. One of the star
performers falls in love or, at least has some hankering for another guy on or
off the team. The danger, of course, is that his team mates will discover his
sexuality, mock and berate him and inevitably ban him from sports. All he has
worked for most of his life will have gone for naught.
And, of course, if discovered, he is certain to be bullied and
threatened, with his teammates terrorized of sharing the same locker room and
showering with him, even though they have spent years doing the same thing
without even suspecting anything.
Either he gradually converts them to his point of view or he leaves,
realizing that love is far more important that playing on a team that is not
really there for him in the end.
A great part of these films generally are devoted to the athlete hiding the
facts from his teammates, but in 20-30 minutes, the usual run-time of these
short works, he can’t hide his sexuality for long, and eventually he has to
come out to his colleagues for better or worse.
Almost all of these standard tropes occur in the likeable French short,
directed by Romain Roellet, Jean Fell in Love.
Love comes quickly for Jean (Simon Rérolle). Playing against a rival
ruby team, he’s tackled by a young Arab player, Ayoub (Tristan Zanchi)
who is new to the team and with whose beauty he’s immediately taken, the other
player returning the glance.
The shared eye contact between the two is so apparent that even Jean’s
teammates notice it, warning him about the “Arab’s” queer intentions, Jean refusing
to play along or even imagine “doing something about it,” as one of the toughs
on his team argues should be his normal response.
Jean, in fact, is so taken with Ayoub
that soon after his shower he hooks up with fellow rugby layer at a tent
bazaar, sharing a beer, several of his teammates rushing over immediately to
separate the two. Yet somehow the young men make plans to meet the next day
after practice.
In the woods together, they get to know
one another and before either of them even knows what’s happening, they kiss.
Of course, his most homophobic teammate just happens to be passing at that
moment, and in only a few days all his fellow teammates know about his
homosexuality, not at all pleased with the situation, which ends in a slugging
fest, Jean losing the struggle with a cut and black eye.
One of the major issues in all such gay locker-room tales is the terror
the straight boys seem to feel about simply sharing a shower with a homosexual,
fearing suddenly that his eyes will be constantly trained on them, while
perfectly willing previously to share their nakedness. It always strikes me as
somehow being highly perverse that their bodies were safe in a non-sexual
situation but suddenly when even a glimmer of sexuality is possible, all fears
and doubts about the body come into play; are they afraid that they will be attractive
to the gay eye or will be somehow be rejected? And if they convince they will
naturally be attractive, are they afraid of the gaze or their own reactions to
it? Might they get erections just imagining that they are being watched by a
man who admires what he sees?
As usual in such situations, Jean is cold to Ayoub when they meet up
again and suggests he will not give up the game just in order to sustain their
budding relationship.
Returning to the locker room for a rematch with Ayoub’s team, he encounters
his teammates who have since discussed the “problem.” Knowing they need Jean’s
talent in order to win the game, they explain that they’re willing to ignore
the fact that he’s queer if he remains discreet. But when he grabs one of their
cellphones, he discovers that they have already been mocking him on-line to
others in the community, and he finally decides he’s had enough and he bolts,
his fellow “friends” running after him in terror, knowing that without him they
are sure to lose the game.
Jean finally turns on the one who has reported him to the others,
accusing him of being queer himself, suggesting that his girlfriend is only a
myth. The player gets so furious he goes into a near frenzy, players from both
teams struggling to hold him off, as Jean escapes and reunites with Ayoub,
kissing him long and hard in front of everyone, admitting to Ayoub that he was
right: these men are not truly his “friends.”
There is clearly nothing new here, and the story ends in a kind
moralizing manner that offers no hope of change and even suggests that the only
way to deal with such bullying behavior is to return the abuse with more its
kind—surely not a valid solution for homophobia.
The only thing this short has truly going for it are its actors,
particularly Rérolle and Zanchi, who do make a highly appealing couple; and in
general, the acting is excellent and believable. Now Roellet simply needs to
get a better screenwriter.
Los Angeles, April 5, 2024
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog
(April 2024).