L'HOMME BLESSE (THE WOUNDED MAN)

France, 1983, 90 minutes, Colour.
Jean- Hugues Anglade, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Roland Bertin.
Directed by Patrice Chereau.

The Wounded Man is a grim drama about people on the fringe of a European city. It was written and directed by Patrice Chereau (who acted as Desmoulins in Wajda's Danton). It focuses on a young man, alienated from him suburban and ordinary parents, aware of some homosexual drives who is fascinated by the fringe life at a railway station. He continues to return to the station, is the object of desire from an infatuated doctor, is introduced to a disturbed young man who is a pimp for men at the railway station. After many encounters, where the young man learns to be more assertive, he confronts the doctor, confronts the very disturbed friend and in a sexual assault, kills him. The film does not indicate what the future of this disturbed young man would be - except perhaps a repeat of the life of his victim.

The film is intense, well acted and directed. It is also quite explicit in presentations of homosexual sexual activity. The young man is played by Jean Hugues Anglade (Betty Blue). His disturbed friend is Vittorio Mezzogiorno (The Three Brothers). Veteran German actor Armin Mueller- Stuhl (who was to go to the US in the late '80s for a successful career) appears as the young man's father. A grim picture of fringe homosexual society.

1.Impact of the film? As drama? Characters? Relationships? Tensions, sexuality, violence?

2.The European city, homes, apartments? The railway station? The atmosphere of night? Darkness? The musical score?

3.The title - to whom did it refer? To the young man, to Jean, to Dr Bosman?

4.The focus on the young man, going to the railway station with his family, his relationship to his parents, their love for him, their lack of interest? His relationship with his sister? The scenes at home, his being bored? Restlessness at the railway station, wandering, noticing the doctor watching him? The incidents in the toilets, the meeting with Jean, the drink? His return and Jean's ambiguity? The violent physical confrontation? His missing his sister's departure, going home? The lack of response from his father? The parents planning the holiday? His ability to disappear? Not having any money? Going to the railway station, following the doctor, the discussions with him, the meeting with Jean, going home with him, Jean and Elizabeth, their night together, the physical confrontation? Jean and his talk about the police? As a pimp? On the beat, the clients at the railway station, the confrontation in the hotel, his leaving, his rushing home to get the money from his mother? The return and everybody disappearing? The young man at the railway station, the money, the knife and the kiss? The psychological effect of these experiences? Returning to Elizabeth? Meeting the doctor? Jean and his erratic behaviour? The doctor finally showing the young man to the room, his sexual assault of Jean, his emotions, the violence and his killing Jean? His future?

5.Jean, on the streets, at the railway station? The encounter with the young man, the drink, the wound, the sexual encounter? Robbing victims? His being taken home, with Elizabeth? Jean not wanting to be watched, yet the advances? His setting the young man up for clients, wanting the money? The voyeur and the pretended sexual experience? His collapse, drugs, the final assault and his death? Elizabeth, the relationship with Jean? Her love for Jean, her care for the young man?

6.The doctor, cruising the stations, the widower? His meal, his work? The relationship with the young man? His relationship with Jean? Setting him up? The final showing the young man to the room, his promising not to watch?

7.The clients, the cruising of the stations? The sexual encounters? Loneliness, lust, violence?

8.The young men at the railway station, prostitution, hotels? The police? The 20-year-old and the encounter with the young man, the money, the kissing, dispersing?

9.The family, their indifference to their son? Their not knowing where he was? Lack of concern?

10.The social comment about the quality of family life? Relationships? The margin, the people on the fringe, the world of homosexual prostitution?