Cannes 2013: Stranger By The Lake Review

rating: 4.5

If there's any justice in the world, Stranger By The Lake will walk away from this Un Certain Regard screening with not only a lot of praise for the director and the actors, but also an award or two to recognise its achievement. That should amount to either Best Film or Best Director, and you can also probably put your house on it winning the Queer Palm. What Alain Guiraudie has achieved with his thriller cannot be played down. Set entirely around a lake where gay naturists meet for discreet sexual liasons, the films inevitably drew considerable attention ahead of its screening thanks to its particularly liberal attitude towards hardcore gay sex scenes, but that's only part of the story. It is crafted wonderfully, beautifully nuanced in its plotting (in stark, conscious contrast to the sex scenes) and while it dares you to watch, it utterly rewards you for doing so. The graphic sex isn't accidental though, and it's clearly designed to challenge: here is a film that is both open about sexuality to a provocative extent and a masterfully made film on its own terms, drawing on Hitchcock to craft an intricately plotted drama that is as intoxicating as the sun drenched atmosphere. The fact that it might be overlooked by many who would adore it because of the sex - or worse because of the sexuality - is a travesty.