Things continue from there, in an era that here looks almost indistinguishable from our own - only the absence of cellphones and a single TV clip of Fran ois Mitterrand announce the period. It is an age that is heartbreakingly innocent of the coming Aids crisis. The irony, in fact, is that this period, being only almost aware of the illness, actually resembles the present because it has now once again become peripheral.
The complacency of a pre-Aids era looks like the complacency of a time that is theoretically post-Aids. T chin 's movie suggests a generational dimension to the birth of Aids activism: it is Adrien - a medical professional, after all - who converts the pain of loneliness into an angry political energy, campaigning for safe sex, and for smug state authorities to offer at-risk communities much-needed information. But part of his drive to do this is the knowledge that as he is getting older, the gay scene is a delicious party to which he is increasingly not invited.
Activism is a way of reclaiming and reasserting his gay identity, and unbreaking his heart. There are some reasons to be a little sceptical about this film. Of the quartet presented here, three are upwardly mobile professionals in their 30s and 40s, one is young and beautiful with a menial job; a cynic might say that it is easy to see which character is going to be the doomed sacrificial lamb.
Yet it is engaging and watchable, with strong performances, particularly from the outstanding Bouajila as the conflicted, angry Mehdi, and Julie Depardieu as Manu's sister Julie, whose burgeoning career as an opera singer creates a sad and serendipitous background music for Manu's story. You've read the piece, now have your say.
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