Garçon Stupide (Stupid Boy), directed by Lionel Baier, is a coming-of-age tale about a handsome but rather skinny, anorexic twenty-year-old boy, Loïc (played by Pierre Chatangy), who was born in Brittany, now lives in Switzerland, works listlessly in a chocolate factory, sells his body on evening chatrooms and streetcorners, and socializes with Marie (played by Natacha Koutchoumov), a museum receptionist. Although he lives in Bulle, Fribourg, his sexual escapades often take him to nearby Lausanne, where he weekends after tricks with Marie, whom he treats as a wise older sister. Although Marie appears to be in love with Loïc, he is unaware of her true feelings. At one point, she concludes that he is an ignoramus, concerned only with himself. She urges him to become a photographer, since he enjoys capturing sexual images on his cameraphone; perhaps with a job that he likes, there will be some meaning to his life. When a trick, Lionel (voiced by the director) tries to get better acquainted, Loïc is startled with his many questions, but the main puzzle–never asked–is whether he is an orphan, a product of a divorce, or just a runaway. Loïc is beginning to think that in Lionel he has met the love of his life, so he now asks, “What is love?” Meanwhile, Marie has met a new friend (played by Laurent Guido), whose intellect evidently interests her more than his unattractive appearance. One day, Lionel suddenly asks Loïc to perform fellatio in a public toilet, whereupon he erupts with extreme anger, claiming that Lionel is a fraud, thus ending the relationship. But Loïc is also angry with Marie for dating someone else, and his fierce temper drives her to kick him out. However, he becomes fascinated with Rui (played by Rui Pedro Alves), a Portuguese soccer player on a Bulle team; he watches him on television and saves news clippings about him. After a soccer match, he goes onto the field but is too shy to introduce himself. Then he tries to stalk Rui, but one day he happens to see Rui jogging, so he joins in and meets Rui and his infant son; evidently Loïc realizes that family life can be rewarding. When he returns to Marie’s apartment, he discovers that she has fallen, hit her head, and is dead because there was nobody to take her to the hospital to treat the concussion. Friendless, Loïc must now decide what to do with life on his own. Perhaps he is not gay after all. But can he figure out how to get a life? Earlier, he hears the word “Hitlerian” and sees the word “impressionism” in a trick’s library, so he looks them up in a dictionary, not understanding that they are concepts rather than just words; perhaps, he concludes, he should become better educated, though he clearly lacks the intellect to do so. When the film ends, he is sure of what he does not want to be, but unsure of what he will become. For the gay population, Garçon Stupide appears to counsel caution in trying to establish a relationship with a handsome young male hustler, who may in daily life turn out to be rather boring and narcissistic but certainly will not provide true love. Members of the straight population, who may be exposed to more graphic quickies in the film than they can tolerate, will doubtless conclude that gay life is nasty, tawdry, and unsatisfying. MH