''I Don't Kiss'' (french: J'embrasse pas) is a 1991 French drama film directed by
André Téchiné, starring
Manuel Blanc
Manuel Blanc (born 12 June 1968) is a French television and film actor.
Partial filmography
*1991: '' I Don't Kiss'' - Pierre Lacaze
*1993: ''A Crime'' - Frédéric Chapelin-Tourvel
*1994: ''Des feux mal éteints'' - Jérôme
*1994: ''Lou n'a pa ...
,
Emmanuelle Béart
Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...
and
Philippe Noiret
Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor.
Life and career
Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student and ...
. The plot follows a young man who leaves his provincial home in the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
, going to Paris, hoping to become an actor. A promising beginning is followed by disillusionment and he ends on the street as a prostitute.
The film is a grim, melancholic portrait of a young man searching and failing to find meaning in his life. The film had a total of 472,187 admissions in France.
Plot
Pierre, an idealistic twenty-year-old man, leaves his home in a remote district of the Pyrenees to travel to Paris, hoping to break away from his restrictive provincial life. Arriving in the French capital, he turns to the only person he knows in the city, Evelyne, a middle aged nurse, whom he had briefly met when working as a stretcher-bearer at
Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...
. She is vague and distracted, being preoccupied by the paralyzed mother with whom she lives. Nevertheless, she manages to get Pierre a job in the kitchen of a hospital. He finds somewhere to stay and, in order to fulfill his childhood dream, buys a book on how to become an actor.
A colleague at work, Said, takes him to dinner with two middle-aged men: they are both gay. The cellist, Dimitri, is Said's lover, and the intellectual television personality, Romain, is fascinated by Pierre but insists his interest is platonic. Pierre is disgusted by the evening and when Romain gives him a ride home and stops in a park that is a pick up point for hustlers, he walks off in a huff, refusing to get back into Romain's car. Evelyne takes Pierre to an expensive restaurant to make up for her earlier indifference. They return to her house and spend the night together. She offers him free accommodation, he moves in and they start an affair.
Pierre begins to attend acting classes but shows little talent. When he has to prepare for "
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
", he recites the role with no feelings and even forgets his lines. Humiliated, he flees in abandonment from his tentative ambition to become an actor.
His relationship with Evelyne also comes to an abrupt end. She feels that he does not really love her and breaks away from him. When she leaves him some money, Pierre feels insulted, returns the money, and leaves the place she had offered him. He goes absent from work pleading illness and eventually loses his job. Homeless and forced to sleep on the streets, he falls victim to thieves who steal all his belongings. Now broke and homeless, Pierre returns to the park where Romain took him in, and sees him again. Pierre's offer of sexual favors is refused, but Romain takes him on a trip to Spain. In
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, the older man takes someone else as a lover and Pierre returns to Paris.
With no job or home, Pierre has to adopt prostitution as his only way to make money. He makes his rules very clear to prospective male clients: "I don't kiss, I don't suck, I don't get fucked". Despite his initial aversion to sex with men, Pierre manages to make a success of his new career. During a police crackdown on streetwalkers, he meets Ingrid, another prostitute. He becomes infatuated with Ingrid, whose dream had been to become a singer. Both are arrested and after a night in jail, they spend an idyllic day together. They make love, but their liaison is discovered by her
pimp, who with his gang beats up and rapes Pierre, forcing Ingrid to watch.
Pierre leaves Paris and joins the
paratroops; he voices to an interviewing officer a desire for revenge, and also for the "leap into the void" involved in parachuting at night. On a visit home, he tells his brother that he did not hate the city, he just was not ready for it. On release from his service, and about to leave once again for Paris and an open future, Pierre stops off at the beach, takes his clothes off and wanders into the sea.
Cast
*
Manuel Blanc
Manuel Blanc (born 12 June 1968) is a French television and film actor.
Partial filmography
*1991: '' I Don't Kiss'' - Pierre Lacaze
*1993: ''A Crime'' - Frédéric Chapelin-Tourvel
*1994: ''Des feux mal éteints'' - Jérôme
*1994: ''Lou n'a pa ...
as Pierre
*
Philippe Noiret
Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor.
Life and career
Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student and ...
as Romain
*
Emmanuelle Béart
Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...
as Ingrid
*
Hélène Vincent
Hélène Vincent (born 9 September 1943) is a French actress and stage director.
Career
She received a César Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1989 for her role as Madame Marielle Le Quesnoy in ''Life Is a Long Quiet River'' and a nominatio ...
as Evelyne
*
Ivan Desny as Dimitri
*
Roschdy Zem
Roschdy Zem (born 27 September 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker of Moroccan descent. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in the film '' Days of Glory'' at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
Career
Versatile and determined to not ...
as Saïd
* Christophe Bernard as Le Mac
*
Michèle Moretti
Michèle Moretti (born 15 March 1940 in Paris, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Amer ...
as The Drama teacher
Analysis
The film is a bleak, melancholic portrait of a young man searching and failing to find meaning in his life. The film's fragmented narrative structure and uneven rhythm added to the sense of insecurity experienced by the central character. At the same time, the moody photography – particularly the intense nocturnal scenes – lend an atmosphere of cruel oppression and dark poetry, recurring motifs in Téchiné's appealing style of cinema.
Production
Téchiné's ninth feature was filmed after a four-year gap since he made his previous film. ''I Don't Kiss'' was based on a story by Téchiné's collaborator Jacques Nolot, with dialogue by Téchiné, Nolot, and the writer Michel Grisolia.
DVD release
The film was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
July 22, 2008 in the U.S. as part of a
Boxset
A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists and bands ...
of Téchiné's films. The film is in French with English and Spanish subtitles. ''I Don't Kiss'' is also available in Region 2 DVD.
Notes
References
*Marshall, Bill. ''André Téchiné''. Manchester University Press, 2007,
External links
*
{{André Téchiné
1991 drama films
1991 films
Films directed by André Téchiné
Films scored by Philippe Sarde
French drama films
1990s French-language films
French LGBT-related films
Films about prostitution in Paris
Films about male prostitution in France
1990s French films