MFDB

Storyline

Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel. An attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this, but wants to live out his passion anyway.

During the summer, on the edge of a lake surrounded by hills and forests and far from any houses, several male bathers, mostly naturists and gay, come to sunbathe. The woods behind the beach are a place where fleeting sexual encounters take place in a promiscuous atmosphere. Each day, Franck lies his towel on the white stony beach where he gets to know Henri and also Michel, a good-looking man to whom he is immediately attracted. But Michel is a murderer as Franck soon finds out when one evening, from the woods which overlook the lake, he spots him drowning Pascal, his current partner. Upset and afraid but also completely under the spell of the murderer, Franck keeps what he has seen a secret, becoming an accomplice to the man he desires. He soon gives in to his advances and falls passionately in love with him, yet all the while hiding his fear in case his lover should realise that he knows exactly what he did.

Two days later, the body of the drowned man is discovered and identified. His death is considered suspicious bringing a police inspector to the scene who interrogates Franck and Michel shortly after. Franck continues to protect Michel by stating that he didn't see anything unusual on the evening the man drowned. As the inspector continues his investigation, Franck and Michel's relationship progresses, even as Franck becomes increasingly frustrated by Michel's refusal to meet him anywhere other than at the beach. Henri, with whom Franck has built up a platonic relationship, has an intuitive understanding of what has happened over the past few days, and warns Franck about Michel.

Later on, Franck goes swimming far from shore. Henri, making the most of Franck's absence, goes to see Michel and tells him he's convinced that the recent drowning wasn't an accident, that he has realised that Michel was the killer, and that the inspector will identify the murderer sooner or later. He looks at Michel knowingly and mockingly, then stands up and says he's going to go for a walk in the woods. As he enters the woods, he casts a glance back at Michel.

Festivals & Academy awards and others

Seville European Film Festival 2013
EFA Section (European Film Academy)
Awards: Gold Giraldillo and Best Photography Direction
Atlántida Film Fest (Filmin) 2014

European Film Awards (EFA) 2013
César 2014
Nominated

Releases

Spain (4 of April 2014)