droledefelix

Sexy and marvelous French film about
a French/Arab gay man Felix who sets
off on a journey in search of family with
a backpack and a rainbow kite.

REVIEW

In their very unusual debut feature,
Jeanne and the Perfect Guy,
directing/writing team Jacques
Martineau and Olivier Ducastel
demonstrated a distinctive mix of fairy
tale and harsh reality. With this, their
second film, they’ve stripped away the
songs but retained a magical,
unflinching flair that results in an
extremely entertaining and sensual
gay road movie. Felix (Bouajila) is a
gentle, carefree French-Arab living in
Normandy with his lover, who, after
finding himself suddenly unemployed,
decides to head south to Marseilles in
search of his biological father, whom
he’s never met. Bidding his boyfriend
adieu, Felix hits the road hitch-hiking
where he meets a variety of strangers
who become his new, imagined family.
There’s young, frisky, and
inexperienced “little brother,” (who
lusts after him) hunky and liberated
“cousin,” (with whom he has some hot
sex in the fields), harried “sister” with a
brood of kids, and wise old
“grandmother”. By the time Felix
reaches his destination, who will end
up being his father? And does it really
matter? At the film's end Felix reunites
with his lover in the sweet, gentle,
sensuous and romantic film.

Besides its air of whimsy and humor,
The Adventures of Felix injects serious
doses of realities like racism, crime
and loneliness. For self-described,
long-time “hysterical activists” and real-
life lovers Martineau and Ducastel, that
was part of the game plan. “The film is
an action for the gay community,”
Martineau proudly exclaimed at Berlin’s
Teddy Award ceremony in 2000, where
Felix won a special jury award. (French
with English subtitles)

Lawrence Ferber