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Cold Showers (Ws Sub Dol)
Cold Showers
Ws Sub Dol
Actors: Johan Libéreau, Salomé Stévenin, Florence Thomassin, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Claire Nebout
Director: Antony Cordier
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama
UR     2006     1hr 42min

Studio: Wolfe Video Release Date: 07/25/2006 Run time: 102 minutes

     
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Movie Details

Actors: Johan Libéreau, Salomé Stévenin, Florence Thomassin, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Claire Nebout
Director: Antony Cordier
Creators: Nicolas Gaurin, Antony Cordier, Emmanuelle Castro, Pascal Caucheteux, Sebastien Lemercier, Julie Peyr
Genres: Indie & Art House, Drama
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Love & Romance
Studio: Picture This
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Closed-captioned,Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 07/25/2006
Original Release Date: 01/01/2006
Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/2006
Release Year: 2006
Run Time: 1hr 42min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 4
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Movie Reviews

Mispromoted
Richard Nelson | Chicago, IL | 08/23/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)

"It's a sign of desperation on the part of the producers that this movie is being promoted as gay cinema. Yes, there is a brief (and darkly-filmed) threesome at the heart of the movie, and it's of the 2M+1F variety. But otherwise there isn't the faintest trace of "gay" in this movie, only a young man confused about his place in the world and driven to desperate acts, from losing more than 15 pounds on a crash diet to get into a lower judo weight class to sharing his girlfriend with a richer teammate to an act of violence that mars the last ten minutes.

With that said, there is a halfway-decent plot here; if you like the "disaffected teenage male" strain of French cinema you may enjoy this. But if you've come for either a gay coming-of-age movie or for the sort of titillation common to most movies promoted specifically to a gay audience, check out Grande Ecole or Latter Days instead."
Ménage a Trois: Coming of Age Under the Microscope
Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 08/11/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)

"'Douches froides' ('Cold Showers') is a film by Antony Cordier that has been marketed in a strange way: the projected audience was supposedly the gay audience, but aside from brief frontal nudity in an innocuous gym shower room there is nothing 'gay' about this movie. Instead COLD SHOWERS is an examination of class, sport, experimentation, and emotional borderlines that are at once fascinating and frustrating.

Mickael (Johan Libereau) is from a poor working class family - his father Gerard (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey) is a boozer taxi cab driver who lost his license as a result of a DUI, and his mother Annie (Florence Thomassin) is a cleaning woman in the high school gym: they live on the edge of poverty. Not a great student, Mickael excels in judo and his life is focused on his sport and on his girlfriend Vanessa (Salome Stevenin). One of Mickael's teammates Clement (Pierre Perrier) is from a wealthy family: his father Louis Steiner (Aurelien Recoing) is confined to a wheelchair and his mother Mathilde (Claire Nebout) is a woman of the world and society. Louis decides to sponsor the judo team, buys them outfits, and asks Mickael to work with Clement to perfect his technique and prepare the judo team for a French championship.

Mickael and Clement relate well and while Mickael is a winning player, Clement is smarter and understands the intrinsic rules of the game better. An incident occurs that forces Mickael to take the position of a wounded mate and in doing so he must lose 8 kilos to qualify for the championship team. The struggle to lose weight (his body is already perfect) places stress on both Mickael and his family and teammates. Mickael and Vanessa include Clement in their camaraderie, a situation which evolves into a ménage a trois as the three have sex in the after hours gym. Vanessa reacts as though this is the greatest physical feeling ever, Clement is smitten, and Mickael has troubling doubts. When the three decide to try it again in a hotel room Mickael is so conflicted that he does not join the other two, only listening to their cavorting in the bathtub feeling inferior to the smarter, wealthier Clement. But on the judo side, the team wins the championship and Mickael's delicate sense of self worth is restored for a moment. It is the manner in which the trio of young adolescents resolves their antics that closes the film.

Though the actors are superb and very beautiful to see and hear, the character development is fuzzy and we are left with little understanding or insight as to the each of the key players. The judo action moments are beautifully choreographed and the intimacy scenes are done with taste and fine lighting but with little passion conveyed. Though we want to identify with Mickael and his methods of confronting his coming of age, there just isn't enough character motivation to make that transference entirely successful. This film feels like two movies: a judo team's antics and a class-crossed ménage a trois. Beautiful to watch, but the script could have been more carefully constructed. Grady Harp, August 06"
A very pleasant movie
Akira Touya | Berlin | 06/19/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"intense in a smooth way, mildly erotic. if you have heard it was "gay cinema" it is not. but even if that is what you were hoping for you should still watch this film. it is simply a great movie. and the french language makes it sultry throughout."
A Cut Above
H. F. Corbin | ATLANTA, GA USA | 03/14/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the beginning of this French film directed by Antony Cordier Mikael (Johan Libereau) discovers, when he takes a shower, that his mother has had the electricity turned off to save money. He lives with his parents who are extremely poor-- his father loses his job as a taxi driver because of a drinking problem; his mother is a cleaning lady-- and pretty much measures his self-worth only for his skills on the school's judo team. He becomes friends with Clement (Pierre Perrier), a rich student on the team as well. The two eventually get involved in a menage a trois with Mikael's girl friend Vanaessa (Salome Stevenin). The three young people (all very easy to look at) are playing with fire so you can imagine where that relationship, if you can call it that, goes. Then there is the other plot, Mikael's obsession to lose 8 kilos so he can qualify for a judo competition.

If you are looking for some titillating nudity beautifully filmed in a film that makes a statement about class, this one is for you. It is a cut above the usual low budget films that come out of France faster than we can rent them.

The director makes a short statement, included with the DVD, about what he was trying to do in the film as well."