Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel. An attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this, but wants to live out his passion anyway. With THE STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC), director Alain Guiraudie has created a masterpiece of the modern erotic thriller, in which cruising along the waterline becomes a metaphor for the fantasies of social outsiders. Claire Mathon's camera captures natural lighting conditions – “only natural light” was the declared goal of the production. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where Guiraudie won the award for Best Director. At the same time, the film won the festival's Queer Palm. In addition, THE STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC) was screened at numerous international festivals and was also nominated for eight César Awards; including Pierre Deladonchamps winning the César for “Meilleur Espoir Masculin.” With its bold theme, laconic poetic staging, and tension between erotic seduction and mortal danger, THE STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC) is now considered one of the most remarkable French arthouse films of the 2010s.
Keywords
- A different kind of Valentine
- Alexe Poukine’s favorite films
- Best Movies By Queer Directors
- Cannes: Un Certain Regard
- Festival de Cannes
- Film Fest Gent
- French Thrillers
- Pride Month
- Queer Romance
- Sexplicit
- nature
- queer
- summer
Actors
- François Labarthe
- Christophe Paou
- Jérôme Chappatte
- Emmanuel Daumas
- Pierre Deladonchamps
- Patrick d'Assumçao
- Gilbert Traïna
- Matthieu Vervisch
- Sébastien Badachaoui
- Gilles Guérin
Director
- Alain Guiraudie
While cruising, Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, powerful, and deadly dangerous man.
Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel. An attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this, but wants to live out his passion anyway.
With THE STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC), director Alain Guiraudie has created a masterpiece of the modern erotic thriller, in which cruising along the waterline becomes a metaphor for the fantasies of social outsiders. Claire Mathon's camera captures natural lighting conditions – “only natural light” was the declared goal of the production.
The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where Guiraudie won the award for Best Director. At the same time, the film won the festival's Queer Palm. In addition, THE STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC) was screened at numerous international festivals and was also nominated for eight César Awards; including Pierre Deladonchamps winning the César for “Meilleur Espoir Masculin.”
With its bold theme, laconic poetic staging, and tension between erotic seduction and mortal danger, THE STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC) is now considered one of the most remarkable French arthouse films of the 2010s.