Wild Reeds (film)

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Les Roseaux sauvages
Film poster
Directed by	André Téchiné
Produced by	Georges Benayoun Alain Sarde
Written by	Olivier Massart Gilles Taurand André Téchiné
Starring	Élodie Bouchez Gaël Morel Stéphane Rideau Frédéric Gorny Michèle Moretti Jacques Nolot
Cinematography	Jeanne Lapoirie
Editing by	Martine Giordano
Distributed by	Strand Releasing
Release date(s)	June 1, 1994
Running time	110 min.
Language	French
IMDb profile

Les Roseaux sauvages (English title: The Wild Reeds) is a 1994 movie by French director André Téchiné about an unusual ménage à trois between French youths at the height of the Algerian War.

[edit] Plot

François (Gaël Morel) and Maïté (Élodie Bouchez) are good platonic friends who share a love of French nouvelle vague cinema. Maïté is interested in having a sexual relationship with François, but he withdraws from her when she mentions it.

François has developed a crush on Serge (Stéphane Rideau), his handsome and virile but intellectually somewhat limited classmate, after the two have had sex together. Throughout the movie, François tries to get a straight answer from Serge concerning the possible future of their relationship. Serge, however, stays evasive.

Meanwhile, Serge has taken an interest in Maïté, who does not seem to be too happy about it.

Eventually, François tells Maïté about his homosexuality and must learn that Serge wants to become a farmer and needs a wife for housekeeping. After Serge gets the news that his brother was killed in the war, he plans on marrying his brother's widow, Irène.

All these sexual complications play out in front of the context of the Algerian War, with the characters displaying different sympathies for the opponents in that conflict.

After this film, Morel became something of an apprentice to Téchiné, who encouraged him to pursue a career in directing.

Stéphane Rideau went on to play a somewhat similar character six years later in Sebastien Lifshitz's Presque rien.

At the 1995 César Awards, Les Roseaux Sauvages won Best Film, Best Director (André Téchiné), Most Promising Young Actress (Élodie Bouchez) and Best Original Screenplay. There were Most Promising Young Actor nominations for Gaël Morel, Stéphane Rideau and Frédéric Gorny.