The best scene of the film is definitely the opening scene, an explicit orgy in a basement backroom in an urban gay sex club that renders the platform for the two main characters to meet, and for us to become acquainted to them, at the most profound level. That same depth is never reached again throughout the rest of the film. What we get are boring conversations like "what do you do?" "where are you from?" "I study so and so," etc, as they walk through some of Paris' ugliest multi culturally wrecked streets, as if this French capital city is in a state of full blown AIDS itself. (Not far from the truth, mind you). There are also a few loose references to classical French authors to fill the intellectualism quota, as well as some nuggets of dubious political propaganda. The two characters do not connect on any level, other than sex; and one notices. The dialogue is unbearably banal and uninteresting. I am alright with cinema verité, but one has to manage to hold a gay film buff's attention beyond the first 15 minutes. It didn't succeed.
Review of Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo
