Sexual Chronicles of a French Family (2012) [Uncut] [MultiSubs]

Directors: Pascal Arnold (co-director), Jean-Marc Barr (co-director)
Writers: Lucy Allwood (translation and adaptation), Pascal Arnold
Stars: Mathias Melloul, Valérie Maës, Stephan Hersoen

The school catches 18-year-old Romain video taping himself masturbating in class and suspends him. Though the school drops the matter after learning it's only one incident in a game in which all students participate, Romain remains distressed. He's still a virgin and the only member of his family not engaged in sexual activity.

The story is simple, just a cross-section of an everyday family with very real sexual scenarios. I was stunned to see such great acting in a cast readily open to perform explicit sex acts. Romain's, the recently turned 18 male lead, very real awkwardness is cringe-worthy and forced out of me an embarrassed laugh. All the actor's chemistry with each other was perfect, I couldn't imagine it done better, because it didn't need to be done better.

The film is careful to steer clear of pornographic style and only shows a minimum of explicit acts while remaining so real you may as well be there with them.

I'm not giving it a ten only because I felt it didn't challenge me enough as a viewer. Although, If you're on the more reserved side towards sexual expression this may be a very challenging viewing indeed. *side note: Some characters aren't given much development though, but I think too much complexity might detract from the film's simple journey.

Highly recommended film

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