Enzo (French)

This film is a coming of age story of the growing pains of a privileged 16 year old teenage but for some reason he despises all that because he feels nothing is real. It is a drama about youth and desire – and destiny, sexuality and class. I am struggling to define this as a LGBTQ friendly film, because in a way it is about this kid realizing about his sexuality, accepting it and figuring out ho to live with it, but this is just one part. The film is so much more than that.

16 year old Enzo comes from a very wealthy family but he is spending his summer at a construction site doing menial jobs. Their son is sensitive, artistic, unused to manual labour; he’s arguably equally unsuitable for it, though he persists, despite the disapproval of his boss. But Enzo insists he wants be there. Slowly we start o realize that this may be for the company of these two Ukranian guys who work alongwith him. Out of these two, Vlad shot more compassion, friendliness and  a sensitivity toward Enzo that ignites a more profound attraction in him than the merely platonic. Enzo is fascinated by the sheer grownup importance of everything Vlad represents: Vlad has a sense of identity and a dramatic dilemma which is gratifyingly real in both its options: stay in France and do manual labour like a real man – or go home and fight? How much more heroic and magnificent is Vlad’s existence, how much more real than silly, muddled, spoiled Enzo’s dreary life choices? And Enzo’s interest in Vlad is romantic in every other sense. But when Enzo tries to act on his desire one night touching him, Vlad refuses sternly and asks him to go back and sleep. This throws off Enzo completely and for a few days he goes into this self destruction mode where he picks fight because he can't bear to see Vlad close to him because clearly he thinks too highly of himself. Imagine what this confusion would be doing to a 16 year old. The film closes with a positive hopeful note where Vlad and his friend are back in Ukraine and Enzo in hanging out with his family and he gets a friendly call from Vlad.

We are never told why Enzo is the way he is. Why does he despise his class and what has provoked this turmoil in Enzo. The parents are worried but they also let Enzo do what he wants. (Although I did question why would they not take their son to a therapist). Vlad only comes later, because there must have been something off with Enzo from before. Through Vlad, Enzo discovers an unexpected attraction, intensified by the political reality that Vlad escaped back home. Enzo is impressed that a macho man like Vlad can admit he is afraid of war. We are never clearly shown by Enzo starts to get mixed up with an infatuation he’s uncertain how to process. He may not be so bright in scholastic terms, but he’s far more sensitive than his family seems to realize but his age doesn't let him understand himself completely. Enzo condenses the contradictions of a generation that grows between privilege and lack of purpose, and in the process this film becomes a deeply contemporary portrait of Generation Z, marked by apathy, confusion and a silent longing for connection. The film moves slow, very slow and I can se some folks will get frustrated by that. But the film somehow managed to hold my attention and this was likely due to the poignant performance brought in my the lead actor. He brings in this nervous immaturity where spontaneous actions can be brave or stupid. The film is a beautifully shot character study of a young man’s search to find himself. It succeeds in capturing the confusion adolescence entails, the growing pains every young person endures and the desperate desire to find community. (7/10)