STRANGER BY THE LAKE: All quiet on the cruising grounds

      Stranger by the Lake is a quiet and ominous psychosexual thriller that takes place on a sunny beach shore. The improbable, serene setting is a cruising spot for men; a tucked away gem hidden far away from mainstream society. The first half of this alluring and highly graphic tale concerns a young man’s search for sex, friendship, and a love interest. The central character, Franck, spends his entire summer days at the cruising area. His actions are repetitive; he gives a friendly kiss to a known acquaintance, undresses, basks in the sun, and then prowls with a deceptive twinkle of innocence.

       When Franck goes swimming, the camera cuts to his point-of-view; from a distance, he peers around the lakeside and seeks a connection with one of the men. His eyes stop at an unattractive older man, Henri, who is sitting by the rocks, far from the other naked locals. The camera cuts between a master shot of Franck swimming and his POV steadily moving towards Henri. Alfred Hitchcock used a similar shot in Psycho, which immerses the viewer into the character’s perspective.

      Young Franck forms a nonsexual friendship with Henri. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a burly, attractive man, Michel. At sundown, when everyone leaves the lake area, Franck sees Michel with another man in the water, and the situation escalates to a violent end. He doesn’t say a word. Curiosity and lust paralyze his skewed reality.

      The entire film takes places at the lakeside, portraying a small handful of characters. As the day passes, the director films the exteriors in wide shots—the parking area, the woods, the beach, the lake—the juxtaposition of the various surroundings create a unique spatial continuity. The exterior shots are filmed at different times of the day, which cleverly shows the passage of time. Scenes of heavy dialogue are primarily filmed in a single shot, and most of the time, the characters are fully naked, which lends an authenticity to the atmosphere. Stranger by the Lake doesn’t have a score and doesn’t need one. The use of natural sounds—the wind blowing against the woods, the breeze over the water, footsteps shuffling through the forest—expresses an improbable connection between the quiet beauty of the location and the murder that occurs there.

       Although the film has potential to be a great erotic thriller, one that director Roman Polanski would make, the abhorrent sexual content is a bit distracting. There’s a fine line between cinematic realism and glossy pornography. The graphic sexuality is realistically portrayed; however, some of the actors are having actual sex on camera, bodily fluids and all. There’s a point where the viewer might lose focus on the brilliant stepping stones of suspense and find it hard to shake off these graphic images. I ask myself; is the flagrant sexuality fully necessary, or could the mystery be even more intriguing without the money shots? See for yourself.

*** (out of four stars)