Presque rien

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Presque rien

Directed by	Sébastian Lifshitz
Produced by	Christian Tison
Written by	Sébastian Lifshitz Stéphane Bouquet
Starring	Jérémie Elkaïm Stéphane Rideau Marie Matheron Dominique Reymond Lætitia Legrix Nils Ohlund Réjane Kerdaffrec
Cinematography	Pascal Poucet
Editing by	Jann Dedet
Distributed by	Peccadillo Pictures
Running time	95 mins
Country	France
Language	French
IMDb profile

Presque rien (meaning Almost Nothing, which is also the UK release title; the U.S. title is Come Undone) is a 2000 French film directed by Sebastien Lifshitz, depicting a stormy romance between two 18-year-olds set in Brittany and what remains of that relationship eighteen months later.

1 Plot
2 Plot Structure
3 Soundtrack
4 External link

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Mathieu (Jérémie Elkaïm), is spending his summer vacation at the sea before starting to attend college in the fall to become an architect. His mother is deeply depressed because of the death of his baby brother from cancer, and he and his younger sister cannot get along.

Then he meets Cedric at the beach (Stéphane Rideau, also the object of gay desires in several films, including Les roseaux sauvages), who is attractive and obviously looking for a boyfriend.

After the first shy kisses and embraces, the two boys begin a steamy affair, and Lifshitz does not hesitate to show that with realism.

A parallel plotline focuses on Mathieu eighteen months later, as he is recovering from the shock of their separation. Having tried to commit suicide, his psychiatrist sends him back to the small seaside town to learn to deal with what happened. While Lifshitz does not explicitly say why their relationship failed, the impression is conveyed that their characters are simply too different.

The film ends on a hopeful note, when Mathieu meets Pierre (Nils Ohlund), another former boyfriend of Cedric's, and finally gets the feeling he has found someone who understands him.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Plot Structure

Rather than having a clear, chronologically ordered, narrative, the movie switches between the summer and the winter plotline, depicting the differences in Mathieu's life at one time and the other, as well as establishing the contrast between one time and the other visually.

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the movie uses songs by Irish-born singer and songwriter Perry Blake (from his album Still Life) to convey Mathieu's melancholic, depressive mood.