Beauty (2011 film)

Beauty

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Oliver Hermanus
Produced by Didier Costet
Starring Deon Lotz
Charlie Keegan
Music by Ben Ludik
Cinematography Jamie Ramsay
Edited by George Hanmer
Release date
  • 17 May 2011 (2011-05-17) (Cannes)
  • 5 August 2011 (2011-08-05) (South Africa)
Running time
 98 minutes
Country South Africa
Language Afrikaans
English

Beauty (Afrikaans: Skoonheid) is a 2011 South African film directed by Oliver Hermanus. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2] The film was selected as the South African entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards,[3][4] but it did not make the final shortlist.[5]

Plot

The film starts with a man named François (Deon Lotz), an Afrikaner man in his late forties, who lives an apparently happy life. He is also openly racist and mostly homophobic, but at the same time he has been sexually attracted to other men and has frequent sex encounters with other white and married men.

At his daughter's wedding party, he meets Christian (Charlie Keegan), a handsome young man, and he quickly becomes obsessed with Christian. François starts chasing Christian, learning everything he can about him.

Eventually, his attraction for the young guy turns into hatred that seems poised to explode into violence.

Cast

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 83% of professional critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.8 out of 10.[6] The majority of critics praised Deon Lotz's performance, Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian called it "A ferociously powerful, yet subtle and complex performance" and said it gave the film "a tragic dimension".[7] David Parkinson from Empire Magazine also praised Lotz, and in his three out of five stars review summarized his verdict as "Despite that title, there's an ugly power to this study of obsession and anger."[8]

Awards

Beauty was awarded the Queer Palm Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[9] Actor Deon Lotz received a special mention in the 2011 Zurich Film Festival for his performance in the film.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Official Selection". Cannes. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Cannes film festival 2011: The full lineup". guardian.co.uk. London. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  3. ↑ "Skoonheid: SA's Oscar entrant". Channel 24. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  4. ↑ "63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar". oscars.org. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "9 Foreign Language Films Vie for Oscar". Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  6. ↑ Skoonheid - Rotten Tomatoes
  7. ↑ Beauty - review
  8. ↑ Empire's Beauty Movie Review
  9. ↑ Baxter, Jenny (22 May 2011). "Afrikaans film ‘Skoonheid’ Wins The Queer Palm 2011". SA-people.com. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "2011 Zurich Film Festival Winners US films Take Shelter and Buck take the Top Prizes". VIMOOZ. 2011-10-03. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
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