Son Frere

Estranged brothers--one gay, the other straight--rediscover their fraternal bond when one of them falls ill in Patrice Chereau's somber, almost clinically severe film. In Hollywood such a story would have become an uplifting fable of the resiliency of the human spirit, but the French writer-director (Queen Margot) will have none of that: his treatment is imbued with sadness, but also with anger and incomprehension, and the most positive emotion it can muster is that of resignation in the face of cruel, inexplicable fate. Son Frère concentrates on the physical deterioration of Thomas (Bruno Todeschini), who's afflicted with a mysterious blood disease, and the way in which Luc (Eric Caravaca) essentially gives up his own life, even breaking up with his lover, to watch helplessly as his brother undergoes test after test, and eventually a splenectomy--all to no avail. The film's detail is impressive--the shaving of Thomas' body before his operation is shown with nearly fetishistic exactitude--but the director's detached, chilly approach fails somewhat to engage viewers emotionally. In the end, it's easy to respect Son Frère, but much more difficult to embrace it. Optional. (F. Swietek)