''My Life on Ice'' (french: Ma vraie vie à Rouen, lit=My real life in Rouen) is a 2002 French

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

film 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 ...

, which tracks a year in the life of a teenage

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

in a quasi-documentary, video diary style.

Plot

The film centers on Étienne, who lives in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

with his mother and grandmother and intends to take part in the national figure skating championship. For his 16th birthday, his grandmother gives him a digital camcorder as a present, which he starts to use immediately (supplying the introductory scenes of the film). Étienne films anything and everything around him – his family, his teacher Laurent, Ludovic, his best friend, himself figure skating, the sea, steep cliffs. As for Ludovic and his geography teacher, it soon becomes apparent that his obsession with them is grounded in more than just artistic pursuits. Étienne's

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

becomes more and more clear both to him and the audience over the course of the film. Even though Étienne is determined to make this year "the year of love", the year when everything turns around for him, things do not go as well as anticipated. He makes a blunder in his figure skating performance and only achieves second place. And when he starts, very carefully, to talk to Ludovic about the possibility of two men being in love, Ludovic runs away. In the final minutes of the film, the purpose of Étienne's video diary gets clear: Feeling he has failed in what he set out to do and being deeply hurt by Ludovic's resentment, Étienne decides to jump from the cliff and leave the camcorder (which he sets up to film his suicide) behind to explain to his family what he went through. Luckily, a stranger walks by at that moment and notices the boy close to the cliff and his camera nearby. The final scene shows the stranger and Étienne in bed after sex, with Étienne seeming truly happy for the first time.

Cast

Jimmy Tavares Jimmy Tavares (born November 20, 1984) is a French figure skater and actor. He starred in the 2002 film '' Ma vraie vie à Rouen'' (released in the United States in 2003 with the title ''My Life on Ice''). In his debut film role, Tavares plays the ...

as Étienne *

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 Caroline, Étienne's mother *

Jonathan Zaccaï Jonathan Zaccaï (born 22 July 1970) is a Belgian actor, film director and screenwriter. He is the nephew of René Kalisky. His acting credits include ''The Beat That My Heart Skipped'', ''A Distant Neighborhood (film), A Distant Neighborhood'' ...

as Laurent, Étienne's teacher and his mother's boyfriend * as Étienne's grandmother *

Lucas Bonnifait Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk" * ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities * ''Luc ...

as Ludovic, Étienne's best friend * Hanako Bron as Vanessa, Ludovic's girlfriend *

Frédéric Gorny Frédéric Gorny (born 6 September 1973, in Asnières-sur-Seine Asnières-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies on the left bank of the river Seine, some eight ki ...

as the young man at the cliff

References

External links

* 2002 films 2000s coming-of-age drama films 2002 LGBT-related films 2000s sports drama films 2000s teen drama films Figure skating films Films directed by Jacques Martineau Films directed by Olivier Ducastel Films set in Normandy Films shot in Normandy French coming-of-age drama films French LGBT-related films French sports drama films French teen drama films Gay-related films LGBT-related coming-of-age films LGBT-related sports drama films Rouen Teen LGBT-related films Teen sports films 2002 drama films 2000s French films {{LGBT-drama-film-stub