TV
Between sadness and the desire for freedom: “The High School Student”
“The High School Student”: Lucas (Paul Kircher, l.) with his mother (Juliette Binoche) and his brother Quentin (Vincent Lacoste). Photo
© Salzgeber/rbb/dpa
Christophe Honoré is a master of sad, beautiful films. In “The High School Student,” a gay teenager mourns the accidental death of his father. A German premiere on RBB television.
One of the highlights of the RBB series this time is the German premiere of the French coming-of-age film “Der Gymnasiast” (11.35 p.m.) tomorrow, Thursday.
The feature film by Christophe Honoré (original title: “Le Lycéen”) is set in the French Alps and Paris – newcomer Paul Kircher plays the leading role, for which he won the award for best actor at the San Sebastian Festival in 2022. Juliette Binoche plays his mother, Vincent Lacoste the big brother. Honoré himself can be seen briefly as the father.
17-year-old Lucas, who is fooling around with his friend Oscar but doesn’t see it as true love, has a car accident with his father early on. It seems like a bad omen, because a little later Lucas’ father actually dies at the wheel of his car.
Waves of anger and sadness
The film impressively shows the waves of anger and grief, the deep hurt that can haunt you after a death. Mother Isabelle, the artist brother Quentin, who lives in Paris, other relatives – all have their own way of dealing with the loss.
To distract himself, Lucas visits his brother in Paris, with whom he has a relationship that is a mixture of aggression and tenderness, distance and closeness. He begins to take an interest in Quentin’s roommate Lilio (Erwan Kepoa Falé). In a church, Lucas speaks to a priest about the resurrection of Jesus, but also has an anonymous sex date via a dating app.
With this work, director Honoré once again shows how much he is a master of melancholic films. “The High School Student” is probably his most personal film to date, as he himself lost his father in an accident as a teenager.
Honoré (54) has already created several radical films, including the musical tragicomedy “Chanson of Love” (2007), a bisexual relationship that ends in a death.
In “The Lovers” (2011), Catherine Deneuve and her (real) daughter Chiara Mastroianni went through the turmoil of love over several decades. And in “Sorry Angel” (2018), a gay love story was told during the AIDS crisis of the 1990s – without a happy ending.
The music is part of the plot
Music is always important for Honoré: they listen to it together or play it to each other. When Isabelle and her sons are looking for a song for the funeral and come across “Electricity” by OMD, they dance with a flash of hope that things might be nice again. Later, the depressed and suicidal Lucas listens to the song, which is too fast for a funeral, while having sex with his boyfriend. It fits better then.
Incidentally, RBB is not the only ARD broadcaster to focus on queer films in its summer program. BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk) has also had such a series since 2022 with “BR queer”. Last year, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR queer) also joined in.
The films are particularly successful in the ARD media library. They were viewed there a total of more than 2.6 million times in 2023, the broadcasters involved said a few weeks ago.
This year, the ARD channel One is also offering “One queer” for the first time. On August 3, it will be showing, among other things, the British gay film classic “Maurice” from 1987 (directed by James Ivory), in which the young Hugh Grant shines alongside James Wilby.