Its not always that a movie about love tugs your heart and make it ache a little. Just a Question of Love, a French movie, does precisely that. Its about coming-of-age movie or rather coming-out-&-face-the-consequences movie of Laurent, who is not ready to tell his parents that he is gay, because of his family’s treatment to his cousin Marcus, who had proclaimed his sexual preference and had to end up dying alone (with Laurent & Marcus’s boyfriend with him at the end). So he creates an illusion that he and his best friend Carole are in a relationship. And then he goes and falls for Cedric, with whom he is supposed to do his internship. Where Cedric is proudly out of the closet, Laurent is afraid of his family finding out about him. Laurent goes through all the emotions that one person would feel when confronted with conflicting emotions. The way his too-conservative parents behave and their prejudices, the way he tries to balance his feelings for Cedric and his love towards his parents, it was done well. It is just not about the two guys involved, its about how the families respond. When Cedric’s mother tries to straighten things out, by actually informing Laurent’s parents, there comes the inevitable confrontation and Laurent’s parents behave the same way he actually expected them to. And finally when Laurent and Cedric figure it out, Laurent also tries to confront his parents finally about his needs.
The story was so understandable and so realistic, it was like watching your friends there. I know how difficult it is to come out. I am not going into the religious part of the confusions. But I can understand from a parent’s perspective how shocking it can be. But I really appreciate Cedric’s mother’s character, because she is the most practical of the lot. She knows that if she cannot accept her son for who he is, she will lose him altogether. And that mother’s love is what makes Laurent’s mother fight with her inner feelings to accept her son too. Dad’s can be tough most of the times, at least from what I know and have seen. The only poor girl in this is Carole. She being the best friend she is, helps Laurent in every way she possibly can. Where Cedric tries to push Laurent because he considers it normal for being accepted, he fails to recognize the problems that Laurent has to encounter, which he realizes only towards the end. Laurent realizes that he is losing the love of his life, because he is not able to make his parents understand and has to live a lie. But all is well that ends well, even though they take some time to realize it.
Its a rather short movie, with so much packed in it and beautifully executed. I would have been heart broken if it had a sad ending :(. There is this dialogue Laurent says at the end and I hope I remember it correctly, (can’t remember all the subtitles now can I ?). ‘Its not because I am gay or straight, its just because I am in love’. And his love happened to be a man that is all. Really, it is as simple as that.
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