Stranger By The Lake

Franck (Deladonchamps) is a regular to a gay nudist beach where his time is divided between his friendship with the oddball Henri (d'Assumcao) and the attractive Michel (Pau). One late afternoon a hidden Franck witnesses a playful frolic between Michel and his lover result in the lover's murder. The murder goes undiscovered and over the next few days Michel and the smitten Franck embark on a love affair. The local inspector (Jerome Chappatte) turns up to ask awkward questions, however …

Director Alain Guiraudie keeps proceedings deliberately flat; whether Franck's lackadaisical morals spill over to dictate the film or what, but it's a curio as to why keep the audience at arm's length. Guiraudie juxtaposes this emotional distance with the setting of a veritable Eden. The lake is always a dreamlike blue, the weather always balmy, the woods that surround on all sides quiet and peaceful. The town (or reality) is never glimpsed. Only occasionally does he damage the image – the wind picks up during the more tense scenes, turning the still waters choppy, and when a regular secret love spot in the woods is spoiled by discarded used condoms.

The sex scenes are an issue. Like the recent Blue Is The Warmest Colour the length and volume of the explicit sex scenes proves problematic: Why are they here if they have no immediate effect on the story? Is it pure titillation? And why so many? Why so graphic? An argument can be made that because the sex is so all-consuming for Franck it allows him to misplace his moral compass and engage in a relationship with a killer.

But then who is the stranger of the title? Is it Franck a la Camus' L'Estranger? He seems unmoved despite witnessing a murder, or at least he puts it to one side to allow his attraction to Michel rule his conscience. However, his probing of Michel as he tries to figure out how Michel can easily dismiss his 'missing' lover shows that he's not of Meursault detachment. Is it Henri? The clothed Henri sits under a tree and never engages with the nudists. His rotund shape is certainly abnormal in this world of solid frames. All signs point to Michel, but he's just a psychopath and incapable of having the deep existential thoughts of Camus' antihero.

Guiraudie isn't interested in answering questions and Strange By The Lake is all the stronger for it.