Come Undone

Come Undone begins during one hot, French summer in a sleepy, picturesque town near the coast of Nantes and ends there 18 months later.

As Mathieu (Jérémie Elkaïm, of François Ozon's short film Bed Scenes), a quiet 18-year-old boy, spends yet another holiday with his depressed mother, nosy aunt and clingy sister, he meets a cocksure young man, Cédric (Stéphane Rideau of Wild Reeds).

Cédric catches Mathieu's eye while selling candy at the local seaside amusement park. The beautiful, more experienced Cédric begins to pursue Mathieu, and they are soon meeting for clandestine, evening encounters in the dunes. The young men open up to their respective families about the nature of their involvement, and a fragile happiness sets in.

Sébastien Lifshitz's intimate direction evokes hot summer nights in France most of us wish we'd had. Like a dream, Come Undone languidly flows back and forth between the past and the present, often asking us to fill the deliberate jumps in time.

The audience is allowed to steal very private glances at Mathieu's memories and snapshots of his life, including his loss of innocence. These moments let us experience what happens to Mathieu after he gives in to Cédric's pleas for a life together. He learns to live independently for the first time, far removed from the people whose love he's always taken for granted.

Written by Stéphane Bouquet and Sébastien Lifshitz, Come Undone reminds us of another - albeit by today's standards quaint - sexually charged coming- of-age romance of forbidden love, Summer of '42.