Come Undone

Rating:
Summary: Life in the slow lane
Review: "Come Undone" presents itself as a coming-of-age Gay film about a young man, Matthieu (Jeremie Elkaim) finding love with another man, Cedric (Stephane Lifshitz) during a Summer vacation at the seashore. And even though Matthieu and Cedric's families accept their homosexuality...Matthieu, the youngest and least experienced of the two, is obviously torn and tormented. But why? The scenes between Matthieu and Cedric are breathtaking in their innocence and sexual candor and both seem to be enjoying every minute of it. In fact, Matthieu gives himself to Cedric freely and seemingly without regret.
The director, Sebastien Lifshitz attempts to cover his lack of narrative focus and expertise by flipping between the present, the past and the near past which obstensibly gives his film the patina of an "important, complex film." It doesn't work though, because what is more importantly missing are answers to some basic plot questions: Why have Cedric and Matthieu broken up and What happened to Matthieu to land him in a (I think) psychiatric hospital?
Without answers to these questions we are left puzzled and frankly a little miffed; mostly because the skimpy mise en scene cannot support the plot without these answers.
Lifshitz obviously feels that leaving great gaping holes in the narrative gives his film the jazzy, devil-may-care attitude of the "Nouvelle Vague." But Godard he ain't...and "Come Undone," which starts out as a light-hearted, passionate and positive gay film, turns into a incoherent and unruly cautionary tale of gay panic.

Rating:
Summary: A haunting, beautifully shot love story
Review: "Come Undone," directed by Sebastien Lifshitz, is the story of a love affair between two young Frenchmen: sensitive Mathieu (played by Jeremie Elkaim), who is dealing with problems in his family, and fast food worker Cedric (Stephane Rideau). The film is in French with English subtitles.

This film is an intriguing blend of psychological drama, coming-of-age tale, and love story. The story is told in a challenging non-linear style which requires some thought from the viewer. The lead actors are superb. Elkaim delivers a heartbreaking performance, and Rideau brings a bold charisma and sexual energy to his role. The two are ably supported by an excellent supporting cast; Violeta Ferrer is a particular standout with her warm, earthy performance as another young man's mother.

The filmmakers achieve a spellbinding visual poetry in many of the film's scenes. The use of tight close-up shots creates a real feeling of intimacy between viewer and characters.

...

Throughout the film are some intriguing symbolic touches; particularly powerful is the filmmaker's use of the beach as a setting in the story. There are scenes of both great pain and tenderness. Finally, "Come Undone" is a haunting film about love, loss, and healing.


Rating:
Summary: I want my money back!!!
Review: ...To tell you the truth I hated this movie, poor light, not good acting, it did't have a good script. My friends and I didn't like it. We were expecting a lot from this movie and we were very dissapointed. If I wasn't that dissapointed I wouldn't be writting this. I just don't want more dissapointed people in the world. It is enough wit me!

Rating:
Summary: Pressures of young love
Review: A boy in love with another boy. A man in love with another man. This movie is a first time trick that ends up a relationship. As we all know we fall in love with our first. This movie explains it well. As well it shows the ultimate hurtful falling of a first time relationship. From beginning to end we feel for a young man going through family crisis durig the peak of his hormonal feelings. Ultimitely all ends in disaster and than a new begins all over. We are left to wonder where this young man will end up but as well are given an idea on a possible new relationship. Come Undone is a movie that feels real and alows you to smile, laugh and show sorrow all in one.

Rating:
Summary: Lust or Love?
Review: A movie that reveals the "coming undone" (out) of a young man and his first experience in a gay relationship. It was hard to understand some of the dialouge but overall it was a pretty good movie with a few "shots" if you know what I mean. Not as many as I would like though.

Rating:
Summary: Worth seeing if you are gay
Review: After watching the movie, I was left all confused and mad at the director for leaving the story like that. But still, there's one thing the movie did great: Depicting the pure and innocent love that could only happen between two teenagers. Although there are a lot of sex scene, it's not about lust. On that aspect, I think it's better than "Beautiful Things". I always felt "Beautiful Things" was missing something, and didn't realize what it was until I watched this movie. In "Beautiful Thing", it's more about needing each other than loving each other. Anyway, overall the movie could be a better one, but the director ruined it.

Rating:
Summary: Great film
Review: Come Undone is incredible. It is brutally honest but gentle all at the same time. The time jumps are definitely well accented by the setting and the sex scene is probably the best of its kind - real, soft, and beautiful. Definitely worth buying.

Rating:
Summary: Great story, but awkwardly told
Review: Come Undone is yet another foray into the ages old "coming of age" and "coming out" storylines that have been legion of late. Stephane Rideau even appeared in two previous ones, including Wild Reeds, so the ground that has been tread here is not new.

What is different about this movie is the way the story is told. There are three different timeframes in which the story takes place. One of the time frames this movie finds itself occupying is the period at the beginning of the courtship between Rideau's Cedric and the central character Mathieu. The second period centers on a period afterwards in which Mathieu is in the hospital with a variety of ailments both physical and emotional. The third "moment" seemingly is when Mathieu is telling the story after the other two time frames. It appears that way because the storytelling device is used so haphazardly that the title could have referred to the unfolding of the plotlines.

Some reviewers expressed surprise that graphic sexuality is shown here, but the French have long been ahead of the curve in that regard. Wild Reeds was released in the '90s, long before Queer As Folk appeared stateside, and another coming out and of age film released at approximately the same time, The Wounded Man, featured far more grisly content than is found here. The sex itself is a relatively minor aspect of the movie itself.

While the change in time perspective is a potentially creative motif, the use of that change did not seem to be organized in any discernable manner for someone who is not an avid film watcher. Thus, the use for this movie loses too much of its potential in the viewer finding himself or herself trying to figure out which way is up.

Sure, we find out that Mathieu's mother is in a state of post-partum depression compounded by grief because she lost an infant child to cancer. We figure out that Mathieu's relationship with his sister and father are strained at best, and we get an idea that Mathieu's family doesn't react with the hostility he expects, wanting to introduce Cedric to his father after their real relationship becomes clear, but the perspective changes so often and so suddenly that we're often not sure which time to consider the primary time for the movie to take place.

There is plenty of fodder for a great tale to be told, but this movie shows what can happen when a great story falls into the hands of a bad storyteller.

Rating:
Summary: a tour de force gay film
Review: Come undone will be a difficult movie to review as each person will interept the film differently; not in the single dimensional, linear "connect-the-dot style" in Hollywood of boy meets boy, boy falls in love with boy, conflect occurs, conflect resolved (or not) end of story. Come undone is rather a single story with three different timelines and the film unfoldes between the three. In my reviewes, I dont like to give away to much of the plot, and spoil the film for others, but it is a love story between Mathieu (the lead character) and Cedric (a real hottie) set in present day France. Mathieu's mother gave birth to a son with cancer and died after birth and the mother's health never fully recovers. His sister has issues too of her own and Mathieu's relationship with her is strained at best. Mathieu finds a release from his disfuctional family in his relationship with Cedric, but Mathieu seems to suffer from a bipolar-affective disorder, thus the mood swings (least thats my interpitation) and explains the hospital scenes.
The film jumps from one timeline to another which makes the movie unique, you dont know which scene is next and nothing is predictible as opposed to the holloywood style where you can predict " who's going to get murderd next"; or " who's going to win in the end ";etc. At times I found myself wanting to cry as this film seemed so realistic and lifelike and I had this surreal experience that I was there observing this in 3D with the two main characters (there is no score or background music)The acting was superb; and the love making scenes didn't look like something out of a cheap porn movie;(ok lighten up so I've seen one or two in my lifetime) so real it could bring tears to your eyes. A film that you will want to watch time and time again, and a must in any serious gay film collectors library

Rating:
Summary: So French it's delightful...
Review: Decidedly not for those seeking a film where every nuance is spoon fed to the viewer. The story, ever so French, demands you engage with it to follow the many circumvolutions love creates between two male egos when --nationality not being important here-- unresolved issues and expectations collide. Very sensual with many surprising twists. To be watched with a glass of wine, cheese and a baguette for the best effect. Santé!