Review: 'Je Suis à Toi' - Fran Hoepfner

Lucas is a young, free-spirited Argentinean escort. Nothing about him belongs to him. He sells everything: his sexuality, his love. It’s this untethered attitude that brings him to a small town where a baker named Henry has purchased his ticket and with it, his free will. As the relationship between the two men grows strained, Lucas also becomes acquainted with Audrey, the sales assistant at Henry’s bakery, with whom he questions both his sexuality and his independence.

'Je Suis à Toi' is a film that focuses on paying dues. In purchasing Lucas a plane ticket to Belgium, Henry quite literally takes full ownership of him. Lucas works without pay. He is expected to please Henry sexually. Despite Henry’s monetary advantages over Lucas, the relationship is not fulfilling. Lucas does not love him. Is Henry owed love? These characters cannot win each other over with deeds and words, so they turn to goods and services.

And yet, despite the selfish nature of the characters, 'Je Suis à Toi' treats them with compassion. Nahuel Pérez Biscayart portrays Lucas with such a sympathetic boyishness—he is young and naïve and impulsive, but also desperate and well-meaning. Without the compassionate lens of director David Lambert, these characters would feel grating and unkind, and yet, wants are universal. Exchanges are made daily. Nothing is given in emptiness, and Je Suis à Toi knows it.

The Young Critics Workshop is organized in cooperation with Photogénie.