The story that David Lambert offers in Turtles is quite ordinary, even banal. A story that many old couples have experienced upon retirement. However, this dizziness of finding yourself faced with an empty diary or the fear of no longer recognizing your loved one after so many years devoted to work, the Belgian filmmaker brings them to life, with astonishing truthfulness, for two men who were separated by everything. : Henri (Olivier Gourmet, moving), introverted Belgian ex-police officer, and Thom (Dave Johns, by turns funny and touching), exuberant ex-British drag queen recycled as a second-hand dealer.
Having promised, 35 years ago, to a deceased friend to keep his house and his turtles, Henri and Thom grew old together without asking any questions. When retirement time comes, Henri questions his relationship. After discovering that her husband has signed up for a dating site, Thom asks for a divorce with the hope of winning him back, as he explains to his best friend Jenny (Brigitte Poupart, radiant).
From his first short film, Live a little longer… (2009), until Third marriages (2018), through Outside the walls (2012) and I’m yours (2014), the Belgian filmmaker brings to life homosexual characters of all ages and different backgrounds. Through the simple story that Henri and Thom live, he sketches the evolution of Western society. And by the band, from his cinema. In fact, the sixty-year-olds played by the Dardenne brothers’ favorite actor and the unforgettable worker ofI, Daniel Blakeby Ken Loach, would not have had a place in a mainstream film less than 50 years ago.
Through everyday life and the happy mess reigning in the couple’s house, staged in a naturalistic manner, David Lambert evokes the AIDS years, systemic homophobia and the right to marriage for same-sex couples. In the bar where Thom delivers an astonishing cover of Hands upfrom Ottawa, the filmmaker brings Madame into the picture, a role played by Vanessa Van Durme.
From the features and eyes of this actress who made her transition in 1971, the filmmaker seems to draw all the resilience that Henri and Thom will need to weather some storms together. “That separation, although necessary/Is only a pause to give reason/Time to understand each of the mysteries/Which unites two beings of passion”, as Pierre Lapointe sings so well, whose song The most beautiful house nicely accompanies this bittersweet film, which is nevertheless light and hopeful.
Check the movie schedule
Drama
Turtles
David Lambert
Dave Johns, Olivier Gourmet, Brigitte Poupart
1:23 a.m.
Indoors