One of the most talked about and lauded films at Cannes 2013, Stranger by the Lake is an intoxicating account of one heathen summer by a French lake, populated by men, gay and straight, dressed and undressed, hunter and prey.

Franck is a gay man who frequents the lake, popular with nudists and men cruising for sex in the surrounding forests, and comes to know Michel, to whom he is dangerously and foolishly attracted. When given good reason to stay away from him, Franck chooses not to and walks into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

The film presents us with a tight examination of masculinity and homosexuality, where the nebulous urges in men sometimes manifest themselves as sexual passion and other times as murderous rage.

A masterpiece of carefully constructed narrative and concentrated visual storytelling, electric with tension, desire and danger and featuring graphic unsimulated gay sex, Stranger by the Lake is a fine example of both new French cinema and queer cinema.

David Mullane
Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

WARNING CONTAINS SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL

Winner, Best Director, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival
With the support of the French Embassy in Ireland