mcmahon-55614 Review of Hidden Kisses

Hidden Kisses (2016 TV Movie)

Tremendously moving. A riveting gay date movie

[10/10 · 7 January 2017]

I am just enamored with this film. It is not a Hollywood blockbuster. The writing and the editing are not 100% but the actors carry the film so well that it simply makes up for any nit picking of minor flaws that watchers may notice. This story revolves around two stunningly beautiful high school sophomore boys who somehow find each other at a party in a regional French city. Nathan is more sure of his sexuality and is tremendously sensitive and extremely brave in the face of being outed at his new school. Enduring torturous bullying and frankly serious physical assault, he pushes on and helps his police captain father come to terms with his acceptance. The other boy, 16 year old Louis, comes from a wealthy family and admits to his parents that he has fought his feelings for years. His father, a physician, punishes and psychologically abuses him when gay porn is found on his laptop. He goes through the motions of being straight by having a girlfriend whom his parents adore and being on a boxing team, all to make his father proud of his "manly" son. Complete familial rejection occurs for Louis and he attempts suicide but is saved by Nathan. Louis' mother then realizes that her husband is a crazy homophobe and leaves him, taking the kids to live at her parent's house in another town. The film ends around Louis' boxing match which he wins. His father briefly comes inside the gymnasium but leaves before the win. Louis confronts his father in the parking lot afterwards and begs him to be proud of him. Father drives away without saying a word. Meanwhile, Nathan's policeman dad has come around and is completely accepting of his son and boyfriend and sort of becomes a surrogate father to Louis. Yes, there are blips of "what the heck?" here and there. The editing as I said is not super smooth. The story line reads more like 1980s than 2016. It is certainly not Paris or even Lyon, where gay students would likely not be that big of a deal. The city setting is a small size, maybe like Portiers or Colmar or Pau. Who knows? The other troubling issue is the bullying and violent assault against Nathan. I find it difficult to believe that the school administration would do nothing. In California, the kids responsible for the beating would be in jail. I found the portrayal of the town's disdain for gays to be a bit far fetched for 2016. I would have thought that France had come farther in GLBT acceptance. In summary, whether gay or straight, this is a must see movie if you like seeing beautiful young men and engaging coming of age films with a reasonably happy ending.