Departure (2016)
An English mother and her teenage son spend a week preparing the sale of their remote holiday house in the South of France. Fifteen-year-old Elliot struggles with his dawning sexuality and an increasing alienation from his mother, Beatrice. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father, Philip, has grown loveless and the life she knows is coming to an end. When an enigmatic local teenager, Clément, quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other.
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Memorable, crazy movie
Disturbing yet enthralling
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Have you ever watched a film and ended up frustrated to see that nothing in the characters' lives significantly changes by the climax?I'll cut to the chase, short and sweet: Departure is depressing, but not in a moving, atmospheric sort of way. It's not an accomplishment. It's sad in the same abstract way as a low-resolution image of a ham sandwich in a dim room or a bowl of cereal without enough milk.It's a complete failure of executing a simple idea, feeling simultaneously anxiety-inducing and bland; following the dialogue is a nightmare, almost hilariously so, and I am still uncertain whether awkward, nonsensical conversations are intended as surrealism or simply bad writers doing what they do best. It's almost as if the characters simply cannot hear each other speak and go off on spontaneous tangents about nothing.I found none of the characters engaging or even deserving of sympathy, and the relationship between the two main boys is forced and anticlimactic, never quite reaching any sort of pivotal point.Stoic, unimpressive acting, depressing atmosphere, and zero progression after nearly two hours of material. I'd rather slap myself than watch this again.
Excellent film. Beautiful backdrop of rural Languedoc in autumn, natural peaceful and unspoiled whilst the lives of the characters portrayed are anything but. I do not agree at all with those reviewers here who give the movie a panning. I thought it was very sensitively handled and there was a lot of authenticity and insight into young Elliott's first gay fumblings. Yes, some bits of dialogue and screenplay were a bit clunky and wooden, especially when the father arrived towards the end of the film. But I really enjoyed the interaction and exploration between the two young men: lonely young gay English lad bored with his mother on holiday bumps into sexy athletic moody young Frenchman , OK you could say it is 'cliched', but so much of our lives are unoriginal, but no less exciting when it happens to us for the first time at that age. I saw a lot of myself in Elliott.One of the most enjoyable gay movies I have seen in a long time. And the fact there was very little sex in it was not a problem at all. It improved the narrative. Less is more in this case. Well done Andrew Steggall.
This film does not have a shred of originality. Juliet Stevenson does her best and as usual gives a good performance, but she stood alone. But I will pass over the inadequacies of the acting and get to what I think is the core of what is wrong. This is not appealing to LGBT audiences, and the badly done male sexuality will probably put off the straight audience too. Both stories of mother and son deserve more depth, and there is too much padding and references to 'art' such as Dvorak, Proust, etc, etc. There is a nod to Rimbaud and one of his poems about a shot soldier although those who do not know the poem probably would not notice. And water!!! What is it with supposedly gay themed films that we either have shower scenes, bathing scenes or something else to do with the element? The ending is water and I have no idea what was going on. Death by water or rebirth by water? In short, depressing and morbid. And why too did the father have to be gay? I thought of Techine, and missed his clarity. It is set in France, but no one seems to live in the village except for the late teen who is the obscure object of desire for both mother ans son. I cannot give this film a rating at all.
Teenage Elliott and his mother Beatrice return for one last time to the beautiful family house in South-West France in the autumn, to pack up and sell it. Whilst there, they meet someone who touches them both."Do you think you can know something before it happens?" asks the young Elliott. As the autumn leaves fall and Elliott explores his sexuality, he realises the summer of innocence is gone forever. Juliet Stevenson and Alex Lawther are perfect in this haunting film. The photography is stunningly beautiful and complimented by a wonderful soundtrack including Oliver Daldry.This is a film you will want to see again.