SAUVAGE

Camille Vidal-Naquet 2018 France 97min french s.-t.en.
Synopsis:
Camille Vidal-Naquet's exceptional debut film plumbs the naturalistic depths of hustlers’ lives, trailing 22-year-old Léo (Félix Maritaud) in his daily wanderings and roadside commissions in Strasbourg, depicting the reality of sex work and the attendant violence of an unregulated trade. Unsparing and unflinching, the film doesn’t shy away from illustrating the racial complexities of French society and the hardscrabble truths of Léo’s homelessness: washing up in drain water, thievery, wracking illness, and resorting to vicious, out-of-character tactics when external influences outweigh his innate sensitivity. In love with a fellow hustler (Éric Bernard) whose sexuality remains complex and who pushes him away as much as he welcomes him in, Léo craves physical intimacy, melting into hugs and embracing the companionship of a night in an older john’s arms. But vulnerability can be a curse, and Léo both eats up and is eaten up by his wild existence, brought ever closer to escape from a way of life that keeps drawing him back in. – Michael Belcher