Being 17

2016 "Adolescence is the only time when you learn something at all"
7.2| 1h56m| en| More Info
Released: 09 June 2016 Released
Producted By: France 2 Cinéma
Country: France
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Damien lives with his mother Marianne, a doctor, while his father, a pilot, is on a tour of duty abroad with the French military. At school, Damien is bullied by Thomas, who lives in the farming community up in the mountains. The boys find themselves living together when Marianne invites Thomas to come and stay with them while his mother is ill in hospital. Damien must learn to live with the boy who terrorized him.

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Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
DannX68 Being 17/Quand on a 17 ans. A really, really good gay/coming of age film. Not just about the kids' problems with being gay and their attraction, but also what shapes them as humans, with as much emphasis on especially one of the boys' mother, it was as much her story as it was theirs. Great acting. Beautiful, but not "big" cinematography - although the snow covered mountains made me almost miss snow - and I HATE the cold! And it was not over the top/sugar-coated as most American movies (or was about just drugs and screwing every guy you come near, as also happens in most gay-themed American movies) in this genre, which gives it extra points.
anamariadl I'd like to start this review with a plea. If you have not seen the film yet, stop reading whatever reviews you're reading and go watch it. Then come back and read and/or comment.Now, this film is pure magic. It has a sensibility that if it does not manage to move you, few things in life will. As a heterosexual, for me, the biggest possible cliché in a film that portrays being gay, is the idea that being gay is wrong. Same goes for real life. The cliché that heterosexuals are against being gay, that they are condemning the behaviour, that being gay is not acceptable in society. Prejudice. Cowardice. Hate. All of these are MISSING from this film, and I think this is one of the most relevant reasons for why this film is so special. Except maybe one single moment, when training, Damien is being instructed to start sounding like a man fighting, not a girl fighting (why sounding like a girl fighting would be such a bad way is a bit beyond me) everything else is love. It is acceptance, from parents, from community, from people at school. The only ones that are finding it a bit hard to accept are Damien and Thomas who are struggling to find out what their feelings mean, in a world where being 'different' is seen as being 'wrong'. What a sensible way of allowing love to blossom, of telling us that love is real, and that love can and WILL happen no matter what.Yes it's cliché that the seasons are changing as the feelings and thoughts of the boys are changing, yes it's cliché that love starts from fighting with each other, with being jealous, yes it's cliché that the adopted child will tend to be more vulnerable and tough in what concerns his feelings and behaviour. So what? All these clichés only build an absolute ideal romance. How can people really consider Thomas a bully? Which bully could care for his adored mother the way he does, which bully could care for the animals the way he does, which bully immerses himself into nature the way Thomas does, which bully shows disappointment and hurt when telling his lover that he knows what he was looking for in the other man? How can the love he shows be so invisible to all of you, just because a punch or a push. Choose to see emotions, and reactions rather just than only certain actions.I think it is also wonderful that their love was shown as full love, as in both of them become one, instead of choosing another film and real life cliché that a gay male relationship will have one top and one bottom. BS! Love is more than that.I could be writing more and more about the film, however I think the main idea is that the film is made with love, for people who choose to believe in love.Incredible scenery, soundtrack to it, the acting is stellar from all involved, I am changing my review from 9 stars to 10. 10+ if I could.
ekeby For some reason I wasn't aware this was a Techine film until the credits. Then it was an a-ha moment--I should have known. Quality like this doesn't come from many other directors.The theme and characters are echos of some in other Techine films. But this one, like his others, is fresh and original, enough so that I never made the connection.The story is not just about a gay relationship, but that relationship is the thread that holds the story together. This film has a scarce commodity: gay characters who are multidimensional. Nothing is cut and dried between them, nothing is easy. The progression of the relationship is a struggle--literally--and it feels natural and real. To me.If it doesn't seem real to you, chances are you're under 30 and have grown up in a progressive, first-world culture. For me, well... my college boyfriend (50+ years ago) was a hyper-masculine bisexual boxer who was angry that he was attracted to guys, and angrier still that he was in love with one. So, yeah, I could relate. I remember our bruises.The locale, actors, cinematography, etc., all first rate. However, if you're like me you may feel you've had your fill of LGBT coming of age stories. Just know that this variation on that theme is one you're unlikely to have seen before and it's really well done.
Red_Identity I wasn't really sure what to except out of this film, but to classify it as simply an LGBT film would be a great disservice to what it's doing. There aren't just two leads here, there are three, and that is crucial to the importance of it. The screenplay is layered and filled with small gestures and moments that mean a lot to the characters, but ones we have to be attentive to. This is a little film made out of moments like that and if people aren't used to it and don't like that kind of storytelling, they may not take to this film. It's subtle and very nuanced where it counts, and that's why it stands apart from the rest of its like.