Directed by André Téchiné, this wonderful film recounts a year in the life of a small group of friends in 1984 France as the spectre of a new disease appears. When a doctor, Adrien (the very fine Michel Blanc) meets Manu (Johan Libereau), a gay lad from the country living in a brothel with his opera singing sister, and is in turn introduced to Adrien’s good friends – a married couple, Sarah (Emmanuelle Berat) and Medhi (Sami Bouajila) – a gorgeous, perfectly played story of love and loss and regret results. At the couple’s summer cottage, Medhi saves Manu from drowning and from that single act a slow love affair evolves that engulfs the foursome. Told in voiceover after the death of Manu by Medhi’s wife, Sarah, Les temoins draws beautifully real portraits of four carefree souls caught as witnesses at the beginning of a tragedy that still haunts millions of people today. Finer than Philadelphia by a long shot, this film adds a grace, dignity and honesty to what we now know as the AIDS epidemic.
My rating 8 out of 10.
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