BANG GANG: A MODERN LOVE STORY
France, 2015, 98 minutes, Colour.
Finnigan Oldfield, Marilyn Lima, Lorenzo Lefebvre, Daisy Broom, Fred Hotier, Manuel Husson, Eva Husson.
Directed by Eva Husson.
The title is ironic. With the use of Bang Gang, overtones of Gang Bang, the sexual emphasis is obvious. And, linking it with a love story. But… Modern? Love?
This is a story of 16 and 17-year-olds school, seemingly ordinary, but beginning to indulge in sexual activity, and drugs. Which leads to gatherings of a big group which become sexual orgies. (And, this being a French film, there are few holds barred at times in filming the activities.)
20 years earlier, Larry Clark had made the film of New York young people, Kids, many audiences alarmed and asking where the parents. In this film, there are the parents who seem to be either ignorant or helpless in helping their children. However, there are some humane moments, one of the boys helping his ailing father or grandfather, at home, with showering and washing…
The film does show differences in the characters of the young people, some more introverted, some definitely extroverted, some exhibitionists. And there are the emotional investments in the sexual behaviour but also in trying to humanise some of the relationships.
And the Internet. There have been quite a number of films, especially from the United States, where young people photograph themselves in sexual activity or are the victims of others posting embarrassing photos and videos. This group is rather carefree, calling themselves the Bang Gang and finding ways of posting their material, rather proud of it.
And this goes on for about 80 minutes, many adult audiences eventually finding it tedious and too much, perhaps the younger generation, a touch envious under the surface, might still be engrossed.
However, in the last 15 minutes, the film becomes highly moralising. One of the group is revealed as having contracted syphilis. The whole situation becomes public, in the school, everyone being tested for sexually transmitted diseases, some with gonorrhoea and a more immediate medical your, some with prolonged syphilis. The young people are shamed, self-conscious, some facing the future, some ignoring it.
The film was written and directed by Eva Husson who appears as the maths teacher, some class sequences interrupting the sexual activity. Eva Husson went on to direct the British film, Mothering Sunday with Odessa Young and Josh O’Connor.
There is a difficulty insofar as most of the actors do not look 16 or 17 (and could not have performed in this film if they were at that age). In fact, Finnigan Oldfield, the lead, was in his early 20s when he made this film.
