Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical)

Public screenings
15^th October 2016 6.15pm at Curzon Soho
16^th October 2016 1.00pm at Ciné Lumière

The general consensus among critics is that the French-made film Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical) is a weird movie. Many will definitely agree once it is released, as it is guaranteed to be an interesting experience.

It is being described as “a filmmaker having to raise his child by himself whilst looking for inspiration for his new film”, and essentially that is what this picture is. The plot does seem somewhat mundane, but writer and director Alain Guiraudie has imagined this seemingly frank storyline in a most… queer manner.

Guiraudie has provided Rester Vertical with a tensely homoerotic undercurrent. Léo, the above-mentioned filmmaker portrayed by the marvellous Damien Bonnard, is someone who, despite rapidly engaging into sexual relations with the daughter of a sheep herder, is arguably a rampant homosexual. There are sexual tensions between his son’s grandfather and himself; he also has an obsession with an adolescent boy who he wants for his film-in-progress; and the elderly gentleman with whom this boy lives is likewise someone who does not escape Léo’s tender attentions.

He wanted a child, he confesses to the peculiar healer in the woods, without the obligations of entertaining a woman. This conversation is surprisingly lucid, considering this health practitioner is only reachable by boat and lives in a hut where she practices her medicine.

Rester Vertical has realistic properties are thus infused with realism, which is aptly done. More bold is perhaps the picture’s gratuity whenever nudity is concerned. When it occurs its presence dominates the screen, and the audience is confronted with close-up shots of human genitals during sexual acts, as well as during the final startling scene of the film.

While such things make it a movie that is unlikely to be suitable for the majority, Rester Vertical wins in its peculiarity.

Kim Varod

Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical) does not have a UK release date yet.

For further information about the 60^th London Film Festival visit here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.

Watch the trailer for Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical) here: