In 1962, Maïté Alvarez (Élodie Bouchez) and François Forestier (Gaël Morel) are 18 years old each, living in a village in SW France at a boarding school. They are platonic friends who share a love of French nouvelle vague cinema. Maïté is interested in having a sexual relationship with François, but he withdraws from her when she mentions it. In François's classroom there are athletic Serge Bartolo (Stéphane Rideau), whose brother has just married to try to escape from war service in Algeria, and Henri Mariani (Frédéric Gorny), a pied-noir (Algerian-born Frenchman). François discovers he is gay one night when Serge seduces him. To Serge it is just a school age adventure, but for François it is love so intense he is transformed. They have a homosexual relationship and throughout the movie François tries to get a straight answer from Serge concerning the possible future of their relationship--but Serge remains evasive. Serge's older brother is killed in Algeria and his teacher blames herself for not helping him to escape his military service and suffers a nervous breakdown. Serge wants to marry his brother's widow Irène (Nathalie Vignes). However this sub plot is not well-connected with the rest of the film. Henri is a little older and more cynical, and finds heterosexual love with his enemy Maïté, a communist who doesn't seem interested in him. All these complications play out in the context of the Algerian War, with the characters displaying different sympathies for the opponents in the conflict.
This coming-of-age French movie revolves around an unrequited love quadrangle between four adolescents at a boarding school. What makes this film superior is the warm and honest way the sexual awakenings are dramatized and perfectly acted by a young cast. The slightly loose and episodic feel of this charming, sophisticated, blunt-but-gentle movie is perfectly suited for this tale of youthful gains and losses. Johann Strauss's "Voices of Spring" waltz, Barber's "Adagio for Strings" and some well-known 1960s American pop music are featured in the soundtrack. Written by Olivier Massart and Gilles Taurand. André Téchiné directed. At the 1995 César Awards, "Les Roseaux Sauvages" won Best Film, Best Director, Most Promising Young Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. In French with English subtitles, the English title is "Wild Reeds".
