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Garçon Stupide

Format: DVD
3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars 32 ratings
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Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.48 x 5.31 x 0.59 inches; 3.53 ounces
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ Castilian
  • Language ‏ : ‎ French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), Castilian (Dolby Digital 2.0)
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B5APPB8
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars 32 ratings

Customer reviews

3.1 out of 5 stars
3.1 out of 5
32 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jerome Y. Hebert
5.0 out of 5 stars J'adorais ce film...
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2006
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...which is to say that I liked the film very much indeed.

Though obviously from the mixed reviews, it isn't for everyone. (What film is? - I detested Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong" which everyone assures me is the most wonderful thing since chocolate-smothered croissants...) But for myself, I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending "Garcon Stupide" to serious viewers, especially if they are more interested in enjoying films than they might be in critiquing film-making. I personally found the story itself sufficiently engaging that details regarding "technique" never became a crucially compelling issue.

In my opinion, Pierre Chatagny performed remarkably well in presenting a young man on the brink of adulthood (or barely over the brink) who is at the point of seriously wanting to discover who and what he is and, more importantly, who and what he can become. Lionel Baier, again in my opinion, did an equally remarkable job of directing a film that tries to portray in a brief 94 minutes a complex voyage from pointlessly mechanical self-interest and dependency to self-discoveries that promise a fulfilled and fulfilling life. Between the early scene when Loic consults a Petite Larousse and his final, decisive monologue and the film's last scene, both Pierre and Lionel manage to develop a character who is immensely sympathetic, occasionally frustrating, and completely believable. I believe that by the end of the movie both the film and Loic have satisfied the promise that each seeks to fulfill.

As to certain severely negative comments about the dialogue, I personally found the actual dialogue to be a critical factor in my enjoyment of the film. Any "dialogue problem" so far as I would judge the matter, lies in the subtitles. Unfortunately, as usual in such cases, viewers who don't understand spoken French are at a sad disadvantage. (I'm sure that most individuals who regularly view films in a language other than their own are well aware of this difficulty and will proceed accordingly.)

To sum it up, I think a viewer who is at the point in his or her life where Loic finds himself at the beginning of the film will find "Garcon Stupide" to be ... well ... a stupid film. However, if you find yourself in a position closer to Loic's in the last two scenes, I believe you'll agree that this film is well worth watching and sharing with your friends.
12 people found this helpful
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Doctor Whom
5.0 out of 5 stars a gem of intelligence and sensitivity
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2007
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People should have to take an IQ test before reviewing a movie like this. The title character may be a "stupid boy", but he is smarter than some previous reviewers. He knows he is limited.

The boy must have been brought up by a television set. He has arrived in late adolescence profoundly ignorant, but conscious and ashamed of it. He tries to acquire an identity from the maternal woman with whom he lives, and from the men whom he charges for sex. As he proceeds, he becomes more ambivalent about his gay identity.

The gentle apposition of conflicting emotions, the poignant, not prurient use of nudity, the sweet acting, the loving insights of the filmmakers into the character, establish this film as a penetrating and sympathetic work of art.
6 people found this helpful
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John T. Mccaffrey
3.0 out of 5 stars Garcon review
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2007
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The production seemed to be very good; however, without any english translation or subtitles, a person not speaking the language cannot follow the action.
One person found this helpful
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Richard
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2014
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good foreign movie
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Richard Nelson
2.0 out of 5 stars Waste of Time
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2006
If you're a trusting sort, read the title of this review and stop--don't spend another moment thinking about this film. But if you must know why you should not waste 95 minutes of your life on it, as I did, read on.

Garcon Stupide has delusions of grandeur, as does its main character, a young gay lad who seeks his thrills in anonymous sexual encounters and believes he's a good photographer because he takes pictures with the built-in camera of his cellular phone.

Said lad (Loic, played by first-timer Philippe Chatagny) is pretty enough to warrant the numerous extended closeups of his face that comprise half the film--the picture on the box does not do his enchanting smile justice--but the pablum he speaks is by turns silly, nonsensical, and stupid. The plot, such as it is, takes its cue from the dialogue, and in the end it feels like a series of utterly random events have carried us to an implausible conclusion.

What ought to make the film at least a little bit palatable for a gay audience--the gritty sex in which Loic engages quite freely during the film's first half--is filmed inelegantly and, in one uninspired split-screen scene, juxtaposed with the workings of factory machinery. This is an odd place for the director to make a play at realism in a tale otherwise so unconstrained by it!

If you're looking for a good gay coming-of-age story, try Dorian Blues. You may not get to see the main character naked, but at least you'll respect yourself in the morning.
49 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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K. Lijkendijk
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 6, 2014
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very good
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Enygmastix
3.0 out of 5 stars Loin d'être stupide...
Reviewed in France on May 22, 2009
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Un garçon "stupide", une sexualité désenchantée, une amitié mise en péril, un film contant avec un réalisme exacerbé les turpitudes d'un jeune suisse, gay paumé, rêveur mais sans grande illusion sur son destin. Loin de sombrer dans une mélancolie stérile, l'intelligence du film réside justement dans le rapport de force/faiblesse des personnages, là où l'intelligence n'est d'aucun secours... Candide, touchant et réaliste.
One person found this helpful
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Dan Filson
3.0 out of 5 stars Curate's egg - intriguing but not sure it comes off
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2011
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Spoiler alert - this review contains spoilers.

The limited reviews should have warned me - this is a strange film about Loic (the handsome Pierre Chatagny) aged 18, who works at a crushingly dull factory job (don't ask!), spending his spare time in two ways. Either he's meeting older men in dates made online for gay sex; possibly for money, though this isn't made clear, but he sports a fetching new sweater at one stage which looks bought on the proceeds. Alternatively, he's mooching around at the flat of friend Marie with whom he has an asexual frank relationship (he tells her of his encounters, characterised by his determination for them to be brisk - he doesn't understand affection or tenderness). Why she stands him is a puzzle - he also visits at her museum workplace, moping beside her as she tries to work.

Loic is dim, it has to be said, but he has a book Pleasure with Words and uses a dictionary to find out what words mean that he has not previously met. However, he doesn't quite grasp the meanings correctly. At one stage, he describes his photography as impressionist; the one thing photography can hardly ever be.

We see Loic meet one date Lionel who apparently is not interested in sexual activity but instead talks; though later Loic is disappointed when Lionel tries to drag him into a toilet cubicle, revealing himself to be no more than any other punter. We see Marie meeting a bespectacled young man and having a life outside of her morose pal. Loic uses his mobile phone as a camera. Encouraged to look about him more, he becomes a bit of a voyeur.

This is where the film becomes complex - is it a dream sequence where he holds a knife next to the sleeping couple, Marie and her friend? The knife certainly looms big on screen. I felt certain it would figure again in a kind of gay jealousy Psycho.

He also develops an obsession with a lower league footballer Rui Alves played it seems by Rui Pedro Alves. Luic stalks him. Again a sequence follows which may or may not be a dream sequence.

(Spoiler alert) Luic finds Marie prone on the floor - is she dead, is it a murder or a suicide? Luic lies alongside her, but makes no move to touch her; then he jumps in Marie's car, in which she had been giving him driving lessons, and makes for the hills. Is he fleeing a murder, and if so did he commit it or will he be pulled in for it either way? Up in the mountains above the snow line he encounters Rui Alves and his son (also R P Alves' son in real life), surely by Luic having worked out where Rui would be. They play together in the snow, but both Rui and his son get snow blindness. Rui seems curiously resigned to his temporary affliction and at peace with Luic bringing him tea; the dreaminess of this imminent instant family leads me to think it a dream sequence too. But the film jumps on, and that's the last we see of Rui. Next thing we see is Luic's car overturned in a field, then he's in hospital, then being collected by a grumpy adult, whom I suspect is his step-father. After a meal with parents, Luic sets off into the city laden with a proper camera (Rui had told him real photographers don't rely on mobile phone cameras!) and finds his way to a gaudy fairground. One stall is called L'Enfer (Hell) and over its door has Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. Luic rides a big wheel and, almost alone on it, sees in another car a hooded character looking almost like Death, though without the scythe. A coup d'etonerre follows as the hoodie lowers his hood to reveal a blonde young man who exchanges happy glancing smiles with Luic. Fade into credits.

What to make of this? The brief sex scenes, often employing split screen which distances the details, are hasty, lacking in love, reflecting Luic's miserable (unspelled-out) past. We sense Luic has never been loved and didn't know what love was, even when Lionel tries to explain. In this sense this is a clever film, about how a damaged youth seeks himself. In a lengthy speech towards the end, as Luic heads for the city, he declaims to himself that he will discard possessions etc. I almost expected him to say, Isherwood-like, that he would be a camera. But lacking any photographic skill, what he stumbles upon is ... love. Possibly - we never know for sure.
3 people found this helpful
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Tasmanian Devil
4.0 out of 5 stars Great story let down by the ending
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2011
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Garçon stupide (Stupid Boy) is touted as a Swiss coming-of-age flick. "Coming-of-age", though, is a little too glib a handle for what is a story about a young man coming to the realisation of how he affects those around him, and how they affect him.

The first positive to comment on is the novel use of a hidden character in the movie - a person who is not revealed (visually) until the end of the film. It made for an interesting juxtaposition to the straight to camera action for the rest of the movie.

The main character Loïc (played by the quite beautiful Pierre Chatagny) has issues, and his coming to terms with them is what the film is about. The latter part of the movie where he has an infatuation with a soccer star, I found less believable, and the conclusions the main character drew from a meeting with the star are hard to swallow.

Nonetheless, this is a good production with central characters that you come to feel for.

4 out of 5 internet dating liaisons from me.
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AJM
4.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a movie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2007
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This is a movie that manages to combine art house with sexy, following the self discovery of a young man about what it means to really be alive. It also has a certain enigma about it... probably becasue you are trying to figure out if the main character is as the title suggests, a bit dim, or a (typical) male who thinks and sees the world in black and white, but them discovers there are shades of grey. Worth a look.
20 people found this helpful
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