Courts Mais Gay Tome 01

The first in a series is likely to be the best, and this 2001 release certainly sets the bar very high. The first short is Mon copain Rachid, a film that would probably not get made today, but is remarkable - risque, humorous, it tells of a nine-year-old boy who has a fascination with his 14-year-old friend's anatomy - the Rachid of the title - and one aspect of it in particular. Winner of the best short at the New York Film Festival, it is something of a classic, ill-served both by fears around this kind of subject in the modern world and the fact that it is in French. Plus that it is a short film, so really, it has disappeared from the face of the earth - except on this Courts Mais Gay Vol. 1. There are three other stand-out films. Emma and Louise - a short film made with plasticine models - or that's what they look like - that is really a vehicle for a safer sex campaign. The two main characters are lesbians but there is also some heterosexual coupling in the plasticine world, and disco dancing. It is funny and looks good - a bit like the video for Aretha Franklin's Rock-A-Lott that was one of the high points of pop videos in the 80s. Je vois deja le titre is also amusing in the way it mixes the rather hopeless life of a man in mid-life, still very caught up with his parents, with scenes with some kind of lover he seems to have who seems to be a bit more on the wild side - all to the sounds of Shirley Bassey singing This is my life, to hilarious effect. More mysterious, haunting even, is the last film, Aniel. This stars Frederic Pierrot (the father in Jeune et Jolie) as a factory worker living with his girlfriend, who has to show the ropes to new employee Aniel, who hardly speaks a word of French and whose looks seem to polarise the staff. Played by the wonderful Jean-Michel Portal, it seems to draw on his success in other gay roles - The Man I Love and Nos Vies heureuses - while also having something of Pasolini's Theorem in its mystery. Aniel is the name of an angel, and his presence has elements of a visitation. It certainly stays with you and resonates in every scene. The others are all worth watching, but these four are so good their invisibility in the English-speaking world seems little short of tragic.

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