by Douglas Messerli
Dominique Preusse (screenwriter and director) Un
vrai mec (A Proper Man) / 2020 [22 minutes]
This lovely short film takes us through the life of
a rather confused young man, Étienne (Adrian Lestrat) as he attempts to deal
with the fact that despite his macho attempts to prove himself desirable to
women he is not only attracted to males, but, in fact, himself loves being
fucked.
It’s a
long-told story, but this film works backwards from the break-up of his current
female affair as she declares she has contracted Chlamydia from him or perhaps
her own outside affairs given his apparent disinterest in having sex with her.
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The film
moves backwards, moving its central figure literally in a backward movement—far
too obviously and not truly necessary—through an exploration of his many past
affairs and relationships including with his male lover, with whom he usually
performs as the “top,” but with whom he also discovers he would prefer to be
the “bottom.” There are several women, an impossible mother (a regular trope in
such films) and a surprising girl-boy with who he meets up evidently on a chat
line. This female also challenges him to show her he is a “real” man.
Everyone
in this film seems to have a truly different notion of what it takes to be “a
proper man.”
Of
course, it takes Étienne the length of the film to finally take the four pills
he needs to begin to rid himself of the disease and to dance into the terms of
his true sexuality.
This
French film is not subtle, and it’s been expressed in numerous other
variations, but still it’s truly watchable and significant in the constant
attempt of young men to try to balance notions of male virility (something I’ve
never been interested in) with their desire for male sexual involvement.
At
least in this film it appears that the young hero escapes into his own identity.
Los Angeles, April 11, 2025 / Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (April 2025).
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