The Witnesses

:"This article is about "The Witnesses", a French Film. For article on the band "Sam Butera and The Witnesses", see Sam Butera"Infobox Film | name = The Witnesses
(Les Témoins)


caption =
director = André Téchiné
producer = Said Ben Said
writer = André Téchiné
Laurent Guyot
Vivianne Zingg
starring = Michel Blanc
Emmanuelle Béart
Sami Bouajila
Julie Depardieu
Johan Libéreau
music = Philippe Sarde
cinematography = Julien Hirsch
editing = Martine Giordano
distributor =
released = March 7, 2007 (France)
runtime = 112 minutes
language = French
budget =
imdb_id = 0487273

"The Witnesses" (French: "Les Témoins") is a 2007 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Michel Blanc, Sami Bouajila, Emmanuelle Béart and Johan Libéreau. The film is is set in Paris in 1984, the lives of a closely knit group of friends is disrupted with the sudden outbreak of AIDS epidemic. They are witnesses to how happiness has changed.

Plot

It is the summer of 1984 in Paris. Sarah, a well-to-do writer of children’s books, and her working-class husband, Mehdi, a hard-nosed police inspector of North African descent are confronting some marital problems after the recent arrival of their first child. Sarah, in spite of her work, has little maternal instincts towards their newborn baby, whose cries she tunes out with earplugs while she works. Her husband despairs when she neglects the child, does what he can to fill in, and sometimes parks the child with his parents. The couple have an open marriage and both are allowed to take outside lovers in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” arrangement that seems to work, although no without tensions.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s close friend Adrien, a homely, middle-aged gay doctor, prowls a popular cruising ground, where he meets Manu, a carefree young man. Manu is not sexually attracted to Adrien and they do not have sex, but strike an emotional friendship. Manu is happy with the friendship and becomes Adrien’s companion and his student of life’s finer things. Wildly in love with his shallow, narcissistic protégé, Adrien is shrewd enough not to push too hard, but there is an element of masochism in his abject devotion.

Manu, who has recently arrived to Paris from a provincial town in the south of France, shares a space with his sister Julie, while she struggles to affirm herself as an opera singer. They live in a cheap hotel that is a center of prostitution. This does not bother Manu, and he has a friendly relationship with a prostitute. The hotel is under scrutiny by Mehdi, who leads the police force’s vice division. However, Mehdi, off duty, is not as rigid as he appears.Through Adrien, Manu meets Sarah and Mehdi. While visiting Sarah and Mehdi at her parents’ summerhouse on the Riviera, are treated like family. One afternoon, when Mehdi and Manu go swimming in a remote cove, Mehdi saves Manu from drowning and, while tugging him to shore and administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, becomes aroused. Later, when Manu makes a pass at Mehdi, he responds, and they embark on a secret, no-strings-attached love affair.

When Manu gets a busy job at a camping site outside Paris, Manu and Adrien do not see each other much anymore, to the regret of Adrien, who earlier offered Manu a job as his personal cook; Manu turned this down because he liked to be independent. When Manu confesses to Adrien that he has been having sex with Mehdi, Adrian is furious and hits Manu on his nose. Adrian discovers spots on Manu's skin; it turns out that he has AIDS. Adrien becomes a leader in a gay doctor's crusade against AIDS, while meanwhile privately taking on Manu's treatment. Mehdi also does not shun his friend when he hears the news, although he is terrified that he has AIDS and cannot bring himself to tell his wife. He wants to see Manu, but Manu does not want to see him in the terrible state he is in.

Mehdi is relieved that he has not been infected. He starts using condoms when having sex with Sarah, but does not like them. Fortunately, Sarah has not been infected either. Desperate to see his friend, Mehdi forces his way into the camping site where Manu works, where the camping owner does not want to admit him at Manu's request. Manu shows him his gun, with which he will commit suicide when his illness gets worse. Mehdi secretly takes it with him and throws it in the Seine. Later Manu commits suicide with pills supplied by Adrien for this purpose.

Cast

*Manu : Johan Libéreau
*Adrien : Michel Blanc
*Mehdi : Sami Bouajila
*Sarah : Emmanuelle Béart
*Julie : Julie Depardieu

External links

*imdb title|0487273|The Witnesses