This story that begins with a young man being seduced by an older man turns into a sexual free-for-all when the men are joined by previous female lovers (well, one of the women was male but had a sex change that turned him into the beautiful Anna Thomson). A better title might have been, "The Varieties of Sexual Experience." Even with the nudity on display (both male and female) and the sex scenes, I found myself at a total emotional remove. For starters I could not believe for a second the relationship between the older Leo and the younger Franz. I never felt that there was any true chemistry between them and the plot depends heavily on your believing that.The use of color and interesting camera work does add value--in fact I might have enjoyed this movie better with the sound off. The many sights of Ludivine Sagnier's naked body will have certain appeal to a large segment of the viewers.The final act soars into the surreal; some may find it humorous, but I found it simply absurd. Fortunately for me this film was only eighty minutes long.

This film truly is a work of art. And like all art, it's formalized; it doesn't even try to hide its formalism. The shots are squared and rigid, the duologue goes in circles, and there's a certain paralellism to the entire picture. It's not meant to be realistic, but like in all great art, it's by codifying and simplifying that deeper truths are revealed.Despite its minimalism, I was caught up in this film because the duologue is entrancing, the atmosphere is palpable, and the characters act in such mysterious (yet somehow consistent) ways that even though there are certain patterns to the behaviour, you never really know what's coming next. I suppose this film is a comedy, although you won't find yourself laughing much. It's more a case of being too absurd to be considered a serious, straightforward drama."Gouttes d'Eau" is not perfect (whit is?), but it has a certain "je ne sais quoi" lending it a uniqueness that places it in my Top 20. Definitely entrancing and thoroughly thought-provoking.

Ozon made this film from an early play by Fassbinder. It's an intense and claustrophobic love story—the whole thing happens inside an apartment—in Germany in the 1970s. Ozon divides it into acts, the first of which shows Léopold (Bernard Giraudeau), a handsome and assertive businessman in his 50s, talking to a young man, Franz (Malik Zidi). The conversation becomes a seduction, and they go to bed, enacting a dream Franz had, an enactment that recurs several times, with variations. Then they've been lovers for months, and though the affection and attraction persists, there's a destructive element in Léopold that shows up as restless discontent and mean-spirited bickering. Nothing Franz does is right, and though he wants to leave he is still in love. While Léopold is away on a business trip Franz's old girlfriend Anna (Ludivine Sagnier) shows up, and she brings some sunlight into the dark rooms of the flat, with her beauty, her optimism, her loving plans for a future with Franz, her joy in lovemaking—as well as the fact that she opens the curtains. Franz almost stops moping, but then Léopold returns. The movie almost descends into farce as Anna finds Léopold attractive, and then Léopold's former girlfriend Vera (Anna Thomson) arrives. When Léopold proposes a menage à quatre, the girls run giggling to the bedroom, but lags behind, telling Léopold, "You don't need me." He answers, "But you need me." As Léopold and Anna have some vigorous sex, Vera steals away, feeling superfluous, and she sits beside Franz on the floor and tells him her story. Nothing, not even a sex change, was enough to maintain Léopold's desire, and though he abandoned her and treated cruelly then and now, she says "I'm his creature." Franz, too, is his creature, and he's dying—he's taken poison. Weirdly, he calls his mother and has a brief, matter-of-fact conversation letting her know what's happening, and then he dies. Léopold seems just as unperturbed, and goes back to bed with the weeping Anna. Vera tries to open the apartment window but it's stuck. We see her standing, head down, weeping, her hands pressed against the glass as if trying to escape a trap.Although much of it is dark, the colours and photography are impressive, as is the acting of all four characters. Giraudeau delivers a fine mixture of sleekness, power, affection, and selfishness, while Zidi's part is also a mixture—of a kind of neo-existentialist disaffection (he likes to say things don't mean much to him), innocence, and injured affection. Thomson is surprisingly powerful in her one big scene, when Vera tells Franz her story. Sagnier is quite wonderful, very young-looking, fresh, with that husky voice and that gorgeous body Ozon loves to film. While there's no graphic representation of sex acts here, there's a lot of sex, mostly as it begins but also one or two brief scenes in the process.Over all, the movie appears to be a story of the heartlessness and destruction at the core of some relationships, or at the core of some people it is dangerous to love at the same time that it is impossible not to love them. Very sad.

François Ozon has flair and style ('Swimming Pool', 'Under the Sand', '8 Women', etc) and in scripting Rainer Fassbinder's 1970s play 'Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes' for the screen he has created an edgy, fun, and poignant examination of the lives of four people at their intersection.Act I (for that is the way the film is laid out in homage to Fassbinder's play): 50-year-old Léopold (Bernard Giraudeau) is entertaining 19-year-old Franz (Malik Zidi), who he has picked up in a bar, with sharp repartees about his past loves and is sparred by Franz relating his current affair with the young and beautiful Anna (Ludivine Sagnier). The conversation gradually gets around to seduction and both Léopold and Franz happily reenact each other's physical fantasies. Act II: some months later and Franz has moved in with Léopold becoming the devoted housewife in lederhosen to Léopold's increasingly cranky self. They argue, threaten, but eventually succumb to the safety of the boudoir to settle differences. Act III: Léopold's ex lover Vera (Anna Levine) arrives at the door to find Léopold in a new life and departs brokenhearted. Anna likewise arrives during one of Léopold's absences and for two days Franz and Anna try to recapture their previous affair. Upon Léopold's return, Anna finds Léopold appealing and behaves seductively. Vera arrives, reports that she is a transsexual now in a female form, and Léopold is delighted with the idea of a ménage a quarte. But it is Franz who has found his true life and love and how he deals with the proposed turn of events forms the rather surprising end to this film.Each of the four actors is excellent and Ozon paces them well. There are some really fine moments, as when Franz reclines in his bath quoting Heine's poem 'Lorelei' revealing how far more penetrating the changes in his vision of his life really have become, when Ozon improves on Fassbinder. Not a great movie but a bit of the different that spices movie viewing. Grady Harp