Son Frere Opens December 10th

The two haven’t been in touch for a long time. But when Thomas becomes stricken with a rare blood disorder, he asks Luc to accompany him to the doctor. As the story shifts from Paris, where Thomas lies in a hospital bed, to Brittany, where the two stay at a seaside home, the brothers attempt to mend their past, at odds about why they became distanced in the first place. Other relationships become strained. Thomas splits with his girlfriend, and Luc with his boyfriend. Their father says that Luc should have caught the disease because he’d find it easier to cope (or does he really mean because Luc is gay?). Aside from the emotional journey, there’s the medical one. Chéreau shows everything, from injections, sweat, scars, blotches and blood, to protruding bones (Bruno Todeschini reportedly lost 26 lb. to play the part) and stained bed-sheets.

In one scene – which appears to unfold in real time – nurses shave Thomas’s armpits, chest and pubic area to ready him for surgery. Chéreau also takes a spare approach, often using silence, gestures or sounds (like the crashing of waves on the shore, or the clanking of side-rails on a bed) to tell the story. The cinematography includes relentless close-ups. The only music is the soulful "Sleep," performed by Marianne Faithfull. The film reunites many from Chéreau’s last film, the 2001 Golden Berlin Bear winner Intimacy. Among those are actor Bruno Todeschini, writer Anne-Louise Trividic (who co-wrote the script with Chéreau, based on the novel by Philippe Besson) and cinematographer Eric Gautier (The Motorcycle Diaries, Clean). Son Frère is in French with English subtitles. The film is being released in Canada by Mongrel Media.