French bad boy director Francois Ozon follows up on his controversial first two films
Sitcom (1998) and
Criminal Lovers (1999) with this adaptation of a play that legendary German director
Rainer Werner Fassbinder wrote when he was 19 years old. Retaining the play's four-act structure, the first act opens with middle-aged Leopold (Bernard Giraudeau) escorting young Franz (Malick Zidi) back to his apartment. Franz, who was on his way to visit his fiancée Anna, allows himself to be picked up by the older man. After some small talk, Leopold orders Franz to undress and wait for him in the bedroom. The second act takes up six months later. Franz has moved into Leopold's apartment soon after their first encounter. Interested in the arts and poetry, he increasingly finds himself at odds with his older, moody, demanding lover. Still, the relationship manages to endure. In act three, ex-fiancée Anna (
Ludivine Sagnier) shows up at the apartment while Leopold is away. Their previous passion is quickly rekindled, and Anna soon marvels at the sundry techniques her lover has learned since she last saw him. When Leopold unexpectedly returns with Vera (
Anna Thompson), his transsexual ex-lover, in tow, the stage is set for a complex dance of shifting power dynamics. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide