Drôle de Félix (literally meaning ''Comedy of Félix'' or ''Amazing Félix''; also known as ''(The) Adventures of Felix'') is a

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

film, a road movie written and directed by Olivier Ducastel and

Jacques Martineau Jacques Martineau (born 8 July 1963) is a French film director and screenwriter who works in collaboration with partner Olivier Ducastel. Life and career After spending his adolescence in Nice, Martineau moved to Paris to study at the Ecole N ...

. It stars

Sami Bouajila Sami Bouajila (born 26 May 1966) is a French actor who has won two César Awards. Bouajila has worked and acted in two Oscar nominated films ('' Days of Glory'' and '' Outside the Law''), both directed by director Rachid Bouchareb. Early life B ...

as the title character.

Plot

Félix, a young gay man of Arab descent, living in Dieppe, is currently unemployed and HIV positive. While cleaning out the apartment of his recent deceased mother, he discovers that the father he never knew is living in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. Félix decides to hitchhike south to meet him, promising to see his lover Daniel there five days later. Carrying with him only a small bag, his HIV medication and a rainbow kite, Félix takes to the road. He witnesses a racist attack and is beaten up by one of the assailants. He is unable, however, to bring himself to report it to the police. Later, Félix encounters a series of people who form an alternative family for him: a young gay man studying art, who Félix teaches to draw, a lone old widow, who shelters him in her house, a handsome railroad worker, with whom he has a brief sexual encounter, a mother of three children by three different fathers, and a kind, middle aged fisherman. As he calls each of these characters "brother", "cousin", "grandmother" and the like, he gradually constructs a sort of family and new understandings of life through this odyssey, no matter whether he actually meets his "true" father at the end of the story. Félix is haunted by the racist crime he witnessed, in which he learns, the victim died, and in his inability to do anything about it. Stopping at a hotel, he sees the police arresting the murderer. When he arrives at Marseilles, Felix decides not to see his father and goes instead on a romantic holiday to Tunisia with his lover.

Cast

as Félix *

Patachou Henriette Ragon (10 June 1918 – 30 April 2015), better known as Patachou, was a French singer and actress. She was an Officier of the Légion d'honneur. Biography Early life Born in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, Henriette Ragon began her ...

as Mathilde Firmin *

Ariane Ascaride Ariane Ascaride (born 10 October 1954) is a French actress and screenwriter. She has appeared in films such as '' Marius et Jeannette'' (''Marius and Jeannette''), '' Ma vraie vie à Rouen'' (''The True Story of My Life in Rouen''; USA, ''My Lif ...

as Isabelle *

Pierre-Loup Rajot Pierre-Loup Rajot (born 9 February 1958) is a French stage, television and film actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is a 1985 César Award recipient for Most Promising Actor for his performance in the 1984 comedy film ''Souvenirs, So ...

as Daniel * Charly Sergue as Jules * Maurice Bénichou as Fisherman * Philippe Garziano as Railroader * Didier Mahieu as Friend / Unionist

Rating

The film is not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. The British Board of Film Classification classified the film as " 15" (suitable for individuals 15 or older). It received a rating of " U" (approved for all audiences) by the French Ministry of Culture.

Reception

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 69%, based on 39 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 63, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

*
Drôle de Félix review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drole De Felix 2000 films 2000 LGBT-related films French LGBT-related films French road movies 2000s road movies Films directed by Olivier Ducastel Films directed by Jacques Martineau HIV/AIDS in French films Gay-related films 2000s French films