Most reminiscent of his 2. The King of Escape, his latest throws together a series of queer men, all fathers or would- be caretakers, in a pastoral countryside straight out of a dark fairytale, with wolves a constant threat for the seemingly innocent herds of sheep. Arthouse audiences who are only familiar with Stranger might initially be thrown, as that film’s suspense element and single location made for a much more compact and easily readable package. But more adventurous viewers will nonetheless be charmed by this delightfully queer oddity. The dark- haired Leo (Damien Bonnard) is a hobo writer- director without a fixed abode, who during his travels happens upon the fair- haired shepherdess Marie (India Hair), with whom he has a child. Her father, the ogre- like Jean- Louis (Raphael Thiry), is a grouchy, waste- no- words farmer who allows Leo to share Marie’s bed, no questions asked. But when she flees with her two preteen boys, apparently because of a postnatal depression, he expects Leo to take care of their child, which Marie has left behind. ![]() This setup could have resulted in a straightforward pastoral drama about fatherhood but this being a Guiraudie film, things veer off the expected course very quickly. In fact, even before running into Marie and Jean- Louis, Leo tries to talk a young man, Yoan (Basile Meilleurat), into auditioning for him, and there might be an interest in the pretty boy that goes beyond potentially casting him. Or are they secretly getting it on together? In Guiraudie’s screenplay, the power of suggestion and (possible) ellipses are key ingredients in getting audiences to think about the subterranean links between the characters and their relationships. Yoan and Marcel’s complex and ambiguous rapport, for example, occasionally functions as a negative image of what’s going down at Jean- Louis’ farm further down the road, while at other times it suddenly parallels it, like when Jean- Louis suddenly confesses he has the hots for Leo . The case could be made that both Yoan and Marcel play the father- figure role in their relationship, as Yoan’s practically Marcel’s caretaker, which suggests how irrelevant heteronormative family roles seem to be for the director; it is all about what works for the characters. ![]() That said, and like in Stranger by the Lake, Vertical’s no- holds- barred approach to sex — no penetration but no shyness about close- ups of genitalia either, filmed with stand- ins — functions as a way of owning the characters’ approach to their respective sexualities but will simultaneously be a major turnoff for more conservative arthouse viewers who might benefit from being exposed to a different take on sex and parenting. With its frequent shots of winding roads and occasionally searching camera, the film, shot in the southern Lozere, the least populous department of France, starts off in a documentary- like vein, augmented by the use of a mix of relatively unknown actors and amateurs, all excellent. But Staying Vertical slowly morphs into something closer to a dark — and darkly funny — myth or fairytale, though this transformation isn’t entirely smooth. Leo’s visit to a very alternative healer (Laure Calamy) comes as something of a shock, for example, even though he’s crossed a misty river to get to her isolated abode. An almost Biblical vision of Leo being robbed of all his belongings by a swarming group of homeless people in a big city (shot in Brest) also feels like something out of a different movie, at least until it becomes clear it is absolutely necessary for the explosive scene that follows that Leo is indeed stark naked and without any worldly possessions or guard. Guiraudie’s obsession with wolves makes more sense, as it doesn’t only give the film its stunning final sequence but also unexpectedly casts all these male outcasts as the lambs in this scenario, being preyed upon by the police, social services and society at large to conform to their idea of what’s normal. Indeed, towards the end (spoilers ahead), Leo’s baby is taken away from him because he doesn’t have a home or any income — his failure to bang out a new screenplay is a running gag with a priceless payoff — and the nameless kid ends up with the mother (who abandoned him) because that’s what society assumes is best for him. The irony is, of course, that despite having a single father without a steady job or home, the baby was doing just fine. That said, and like in Stranger by the Lake, Vertical’s no-holds-barred approach to sex — no penetration but no shyness about close-ups of genitalia either. Staying Vertical is distinguished largely by its poker-faced playfulness. Bonnard is a wonderfully quizzical presence in the lead, expertly creating the impression of. The sexuality in Staying Vertical is frankly carnal and provocative enough to produce a highly unorthodox. In 'Staying Vertical,' A Writer Gets Drawn Into The Sexual Life Of A Small Village : NPR. Damien Bonnard, India Hair and Rapha. Leo, who's played by Damien Bonnard with a kind of predatory befuddlement, has better luck with Marie (India Hair), a shepherdess who calmly takes the sexual initiative. Their son is born nine months later, and Marie, apparently suffering from postpartum depression and angry at her partner's frequent departures to a nearby harbor town, decamps with her two older boys, leaving Leo with the baby he loves but has no idea how to care for. If you've seen Alain Guiraudie's brutally beautiful 2. Stranger by the Lake (L'inconnu du lac), you'll know not to expect a heartwarming tale of heroic single- parenthood from his new film, Staying Vertical (Rester vertical). And if you're new to his work, look for multiple layers of storytelling that go way beyond realism and the mostly buried commentary on gender, feminism, and the destruction of an ancient way of rural life. Staying Vertical propels us on a careening ride from eros to thanatos, the creative/destructive urges that lurk beneath a slim veneer of civilization. Truth to tell, civilization is notably absent in this apparent pastoral idyll, which plays host to visceral excursions into polymorphous sexuality you can read as provocation, or candor, or both; either way I lost count of who makes what kind of sexual overtures to whom as Leo makes the village rounds, babe cradled ludicrously in arms. The baby, who arrives in this world in one of the most graphic scenes of childbirth I've ever seen onscreen, is manifestly a baby. But as we're carried on a wild ride through the rapturous, tortured psyche of Leo and his creator, the baby might also be a stand- in for the script that Leo, a screenwriter, repeatedly, farcically fails to deliver to a mostly unseen producer. More by way of the Brothers Grimm than Disney, Staying Vertical is a dreamy fairy tale in which remaining upright means passing the time with ogre- like local yokels who transform into unlikely father figures, offering a twisted but steadfast community for a stranger on the skids. As for Leo, he's a mixed bag, at once hapless, menacing and comically unconvincing as a knight riding into town. He is by turns virile, earnest, predatory, and more than a little slippery. ![]() As unreliable narrators go, he skews both shifty and so totally adrift in his ungovernable fears and desires that it doesn't take much for him to unravel completely. Stripped naked and flattened, Leo has nowhere to go but up, and though the film's vision of friendship is alarmingly volatile and ambivalent, he manages to get back on his feet by lying down with a lamb and staring down a magnificent wolf. For writer/director Ghiraudie, getting lost is terrifying, but it also bursts with all kinds of fecundity. Guiraudie's feel for rural landscape is both ecstatic and filled with danger. The rolling green hills with sheep bells, and the town with its twinkling lights, are lovely to look at and listen to; the castle and the leafy forest on the edge of town turn on a dime into places of terror. They're also the setting for the villagers to give unself- conscious expression to their animal natures. The sexuality in Staying Vertical is frankly carnal and provocative enough to produce a highly unorthodox method of assisted suicide involving poison, penetration and Pink Floyd. You do have to keep an open mind, but whether you see Staying Vertical as art or as self- indulgence flirting with pornography, it's a good bet that once he's gotten himself upright, Leo will have his screenplay ready to go. ![]() Léo (Damien Bonnard), the central character in “Staying Vertical,” is a tall, curly-haired drifter with a hawk-nosed reptilian stare — he looks like a doleful. Critics Consensus: Staying Vertical takes a number of risks in its unorthodox approach to an unusual story. Leo will do whatever it takes to stay standing. Rating: NR. ![]() ![]() Staying Vertical (French: Rester vertical) is a 2016 French drama film written and directed by Alain Guiraudie. The story follows a filmmaker who has to raise a child. Staying Vertical on DVD May 30, 2017 starring India Hair, Damien Bonnard, Raphael Thiery, Laure Calamy. Filmmaker Leo is searching for the wolf in the south of France. Staying Vertical is distinguished largely. The Get Down Stay Down’s Thao. Staying Vertical’s beguiling oddities keep coming By Mike D 'Angelo @.
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