WARNING! SPOILERS!!!There are so many plot elements in this movie to discuss, meaningless bits that go no where. For instance, Tom claims he saw a bear and his father says he saw it in the fog when he was tired, in a dream. Later, some VERY clear, very DEEP, very obvious, fresh and regular tracks are shown (a bit more fresh than I have ever seen in the forest) on film, yet they are not followed up. They are not followed to a cave and no bear shapes in the distance are depicted. It is a dead end plot device with no purpose.A common cinematic addition for no plot purpose is the usage gratuitous nudity. We were treated to full frontal and lingering rear nudity of the teenage Thomas character in nearly IDENTICAL scenes. Wait a minute, I think they WERE identical. Perhaps I should rewind and compare them closely? I suspect they shot the same scene then just edited out Damien for the first scene. At least that saved on production cost. Just one question -what causes a writer to use a dive into a remote frozen lake as the preferred choice for the insertion of gratuitous nudity?? Certainly the cold is unfriendly to the male member.Another strange thing done in this film, Damien, upon is first visit to the farm slips into the barn, walks up to a cow and smells its ass! Of all things a person who has never been around cows might do, that is generally NOT the first thing a person does. Some might check out the udders. Others look at the great big eyes, while many pet the big soft furry warm flanks of the cow and others just stand back and gawk not sure what to do. Ass-sniffing is a little more of a canine sort of thing. Puzzling choice there, André.Not only were there puzzling script choices, but there were some very strange technical bits from the perspective of a career military man. First of all, French heliborne aviation NEVER support US Special Forces. The 160th SOAR supports US Special Forces with very specially equipped helicopters, loaded with advanced electronics and advanced avionics. US aircraft even support French and British special forces personnel because USA invests so much in their aviation assets vis a vis NATO allies. Second, French troops over the past 75 years tend to flee from the possibility of loss as they cannot politically sustain combat deaths. They also are often sent in unarmed or loaded with blank munitions. The Foreign Legion troops are the ones that tend to risk losses. Lastly, US troops tend over the past 40 years tend to apply increasing force, not decreasing force, in conflict zones. US troops tend to be the last ones out of a combat zone.The acting was a less than exciting. The script likely had something to do with the shortcomings in the characters, yet even so, the characters were mostly flat, duo-dimensional.One strangely disturbing choice for this film was this. The characters NEVER change their clothes, despite nearly a year of time passage. I do not recall winter lasting that long in that region, but lets not quibble over tiny details.The mother, lackadaisically played by the supremely unskilled Sandrine Kiberlain, was good at showing pain and depression, but not much else. She failed utterly at moving a happy, hardworking doctor character into a dark place of bereavement and utter loss. It seems she started with a certain foreknowledge of her husband's impending doom as there was this impending gloom-cloud that hung over her at the start that eventually began to rain a bit of alcoholism. Corentin Fila, was probably the best actor of the film as he showed more character development throughout its length and more depth of character overall. His moodiness and strength were consistent, yet the flashes of emotion he was able to summon were impressive as were the way in which he rapidly hid/suppressed emotion.Now for a quick list of a few plot problems: No character introduction for the father's friend and neighbor is provided. That must be learned over the course of the 2 hour film. The logic behind a mother inviting her son's bully into her home while her husband is not even home is beyond imagining. The mother defends not her own son, when sitting in front of the principal, but the OTHER boy. Damien readily admits to striking first (as if that usually happens). When the father comes home for Christmas, there are no gifts under the tree and he seems more eager to see the neighbor than his wife (yeah right!). Tom acts like a strong person most of the time, but a wimp when he drives Damien to the farm for the would-be sexual encounter. Damien does not follow Tom and the farmer out of concern his secret might spill. Tom just plops by the muffler in a huff when told to wait. A teenage boy, embarrassed by his sexuality, plays with himself with an open bedroom door (who does that??). There are soooo many more, but I am feeling nauseous just now.The entire movie seems to be an imagined teenage homosexual sex scene with some pretty scenery selected, some additional cast members tossed in and a hastily-tossed-together-set-of-circumstances-forced-to-fit-from-start-to-finish, logical or not.One interesting choice was a scene where Damien had his hand resting on the mother's bed and a fly was running all over his hand without the actor even seeming to notice the feces-eater spreading its filth upon him. Why on earth would the video editors not edit such a distracting thing out of the final screenplay? Could that have been a happy accident that occurred in filing they decided worked well as a subtle message? Could it be a deliberate allusion to the inexorable spread of death and corruption?

I was hoping it would be an interesting, and ultimately a gay film that I could relate to, but as previously alluded to on another critiqe, it was was a complete mish mash of scenes. What occasioned the animosity between the two boys? What was the visit to the gay farmer all about? There was no explanation. In fact there was no explanation for a number of scenes, and the final realisation that the boys were in love was condensed into a ten minute finale. A deeply disappointing movie, that was only worth five stars for the attractive boys that acted in it.

In 'Being Seventeen' we meet Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein), who is surprised when his mother Marianne (Sandrine Kiberlain) calmly accepts his declaration of sexual attraction to a classmate. But why would she be surprised? Damien's candy-coloured rhinestone earring hardly shouts 'macho man'. But it is fair to say he is not the stereotypical film closeted homosexual: he enthusiastically takes boxing lessons from a friend of his army pilot father; and he is not even sure whether it is men generally he is attracted to, or just that particular classmate: Thomas (played by male model Corentin Fila).The trouble with Damien's attraction to Thomas is that the latter bullies the former. But when Marianne, the local doctor in the Pyrenean community, hospitalises Thomas' weak, pregnant mother, she invites him to stay with her and Damien, and so the two boys are thrown together...There are occasions when this film loses the way: Damien and Thomas are plainly the centre of the story, so sequences focusing exclusively on Marianne seem pointless and add little to the main story. But Kiberlain certainly provides a decent performance as the friendly mother who chats happily to the boys while serving them a glass of after-school wine (did I mention this is a French film?), before a personal tragedy means she must pull her life back together. Fila and Klein are given likable characters to play - Thomas concerned by his mother's condition; Damien the bully's victim - and also turn in good performances.But the best aspect for me is the scenery: director André Téchiné gets the best of filming in the Pyrénées, with the endless snow-covered mountains (most of the filming seems to have taken place during the depths of winter) gradually giving way to deep, verdant valleys as the film and seasons progress. But it is not just a travelogue - this film is well worth seeing for its take on awakening sexuality.

This is certainly one of the best of one of France's great directors. The cast is perfect, and the two youths beautifully played. Their antagonism at the beginning is not uncommon to those who are still foreigners to their sexuality, and certainly not uncommon to youths far from any centres of so-called gay life. Their attraction is caught by looks that are touching, troubling and moving and the hostility to their own feelings, especially that of Thomas (Corentin Fila ) who lives a more remote life than Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein)who realises his sexual and emotional desires earlier, is perfectly understandable. I will not give away the plot, but mention must be made of the subtle and delicate acting of Damien's mother (Sandrine Kiberlain ) and her exquisite variations of emotions. This is the kind of film that raises homosexuality to a new level in world cinema, and I hope it reaches the wide audience it needs to raise hope, awareness and respect for a choice of love still a problem even in France, and yet no other country could have made this film in quite the same way. Louis Malle's 'Les Amants' which equally showed antipathy between the two lovers was considered a great breakthrough in portraying sexual love for heterosexuals. This film equals it in beauty of image, and its wisdom, and it is a crying shame it was not given the Golden Bear at Berlin. A masterpiece.