''The Wild Boys'' (french: les garçons sauvages) is a 2017

French film French cinema consists of the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe; with primary influ ...

directed by Bertrand Mandico. Set in the beginning of the 20th century on the island of La Réunion, it is about five adolescent boys from wealthy families who commit a brutal crime and are in turn taken in by a Dutch Captain for rehabilitation on his dilapidated sailboat, who sail for a tropical island on which they will secretly be changed into women. Notably, all the five male protagonists in the film were played by female actors.

Cast

Vimala Pons Vimala Pons (born 15 March 1986) is a French actress and juggler of part Indian descent. Her notable films include ''The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu'' (2013), '' La Loi de la jungle'' (2016), ''Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide w ...

- Jean-Louis * Anaël Snoek - Tanguy *

Diane Rouxel Diane Rouxel (born August 14, 1993) is a French actress. She was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2016 for her role in the film '' Standing Tall''. She received the Prix Romy Schneider in 2019. Life and career Diane ...

- Hubert *

Mathilde Warnier Mathilde Warnier (born ) is a French actress, model, and columnist. In 2011, she became known for an exchange with Nicolas Bedos on the set of the show ''Au Field de la nuit''. In 2021, she portrayed Nadine Gires in '' The Serpent'', a British ...

- Sloane * Pauline Lorillard - Romuald *

Sam Louwyck Sam Louwyck (born 1966) is a Belgian actor and singer. Filmography Theatre External links * 1966 births Living people Entertainers from Bruges 20th-century Belgian male actors 21st-century Belgian male actors Belgian male fil ...

- Le Capitaine *

Elina Löwensohn Elina Löwensohn (born 11 July 1966) is a Romanian-American actress. She had roles in the films ''Simple Men'' (1992), ''Schindler's List'' (1993), ''Amateur'' (1994), '' Nadja'' (1994) and '' The Wisdom of Crocodiles'' (1998). Life and career L ...

- Séverin(e)

Release

The film premiered in the

74th Venice International Film Festival The 74th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2017. The jury president was announced as the actress Annette Bening on 5 July 2017. '' Downsizing'', directed by Alexander Payne, was selected to open ...

under the International Critics' Week and won the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for the Best Technical Contribution.

Reception

''The Wild Boys'' received mostly positive reviews from critics upon its release. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 18 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Cath Clarke of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called the film an "uninhibited, deeply bizarre sex-swap drama". She wrote: "Some might find the movie outrageously self-indulgent, but I was drawn into its hermetically sealed world of oddness – and Mandico pays attention to character to a degree that experimental film-makers often don’t bother with. .. Mandico has made a wildly strange debut, striking enough to make you sit up and pay attention." Andrew Todd of Birth.Movies.Death noted that "there's also a robust streak of eroticism running through the whole film." He wrote: "It’s the kind of eroticism that would probably make you feel dirty if you really interrogated what you were watching, but it’s achieved with such wide-eyed innocence and tactile texture that you never even think about doing so." Film magazine

Cahiers du cinéma ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...

ranked ''The Wild Boys'' #1 in its 2018 list of Top Ten films.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Boys, The 2017 films 2010s French-language films Bisexuality-related films Films about intersex Transgender-related films French LGBT-related films 2017 LGBT-related films LGBT-related science fiction films 2010s French films