Close to Leo

Rating:
Summary: Blow-Back for Overprotective Families
Review: "Close to Leo" ("Tout contre Leo") shows the destructive impact on a 12-year old of the decisions made by older family members to hide personal information and feelings.

Marcel (played by Yannis Lespert) is the 12-year old. He has three older brothers, Leo (Pierre Mignard), Tristan (Rodolphe Pauly), and Pierrot (Jeremie Lippmann), all around 20 years old. After some introductory scenes, the movie really starts with Marcel going off to bed but coming back to hear the father of the family (Dominic Gould) ask the others not to tell Marcel that Leo is HIV-positive, because Marcel is "too young."

Marcel is soon acting a bit strangely and asking indirect questions. The mother (Marie Bunel) evades the questions. The other brothers make hints but back off on telling the story. Marcel does get some reassurance and information from the mother of one of his classmates.

Leo takes Marcel on a trip to Paris, where Leo hopes to rekindle a romance with an ex-boyfriend. Marcel hears from Leo that Leo is indeed very sick and very gay. After a while Marcel is able to figure out that that Leo is also very unhappy with his situation and with taking his meds. Leo puts Marcel on a train back home to Finisterre (western Brittany), saying that Leo is counting on Marcel to lighten the atmosphere back home. Then the movie goes on to its brief, unhappy conclusion.

Family life is filled with touching, hugs, kisses, sharing beds (non-sexually), and apparent good humor. Marcel finds himself having to counterbalance this with the adults' rapid mood swings and sudden distancing. The alternation of childhood intimacy and adult discretion, followed by trauma, finally gets to Marcel.

The boys are frequently not fully dressed, and the older brothers go skinny dipping. There is one sex scene for Leo in Paris.

Secrets are damaging, and talking through problems is helpful; the plot is successful, in part because, like Marcel, the audience is not told everything. The main actors, Yannis Lespert and Pierre Mignard, do a fine job.

Other than some trailers, there are no extras. The actors' names are not matched up with their characters' names in the credits. The movie is in French with optional subtitles.

Rating:
Summary: We Are Family
Review: CLOSE TO LEO as written and directed by Christophe Honore is one of the most sensitive, warmly human stories to be captured on film in recent years. This small but very touching film radiates the beauty that can be found in families devoted to each other, a type of love that seems all too rare these days.

Leo (Pierre Mignard) at age 21 is the eldest of four sons of a small family in a little town in Brittany. Leo is gay and is completely accepted for his lifestyle by his parents (father - Dominic Gould and mother Marie Bunel) as well as his younger brothers Tristan (Rodolphe Pauley), Pierrot (Jeremie Lippmann) and the youngest , 11 years old Marcel (Yannis Lespert). When Leo discovers he is HIV positive, his family is supportive and plans to look for the best treatment and care. However, their discussion and closeness to Leo is not shared with Marcel who is 'protected' from AIDS information the family feels would be damaging to Marcel. Problem: Marcel overhears the discussion and is enraged by his exclusion, forcing him into destructive behavior with his little friend. Ultimately Leo accepts his family's advice to seek treatment in Brest and Paris and decides to take Marcel with him on his journey for help (and for a assignation with a previous lover). As Leo's difficulty in facing his disease grows in intensity, he sends Marcel home and the ending of the movie is a sensitive climax best left for the viewer to absorb alone.

Not only is this story one that restores our belief in the sanctity of family, it also presents a potentially cataclysmic topic with such reverence for privacy and for understanding that it becomes a major accomplishment due much more visibility than it has gained. The glowing warmth and tenderness displayed by the father for his children and his wife, the beauty of the brotherly love as presented in the performances by these understatedly substantial actors, and the incredible dignity that Pierre Mignard and Yannis Lespert as Leo and Marcel bring to their roles is astonishingly fine. This is a quiet, profound little film about family. It merits your attention, not only for viewing but for a place in your film library. In French with excellent English subtitles.