Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54348 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-19
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis
Leo lives in Brittany with his mum and dad and his three younger brothers. When Leo reveals that he is HIV positive, his family supports him. It is decided that the youngest brother, Marcel, is too little to understand and the information is kept from him...

Customer Reviews

Close To Leo [2003]
Family dynamics break down when Leo reveals he is HIV+. His youngest brother, Marcel, knows something is wrong is frustrated at being excluded. Tender scenes follow as Leo and Marcel spend time together and travel to the city, their philial love stretched and affirmed.
Even if you do not speak French, the emotional content is self evident and the central characters are well developed.
Not a Hollywood clone, something altogether more thoughtful and provoking.

The Limits of Brotherly Love
The French title is `Tout Contre Leo'.

Leo, a younger-looking Alan Cumming, is the eldest of four brothers in a close-knit and easy-going family from Brittany. Shot in a realistic style, often with a handheld camera, the Breton skies are often grey. Leo is diagnosed with HIV and the rest of the family seek to hide this fact from twelve-year-old Marcel, the youngest sibling. But Marcel has other ideas: "I'm sick of being excluded. You treat me like a baby." And he knows most, if not all that is going on. By trying to protect Marcel from life's hurts and complications, life is made more hurtful and complicated for poor Marcel.

Don't let the HIV aspect put you off this movie; it's really only a thread on which to hang the story of Leo's turbulent relationship with his youngest brother. For when Leo decides to revisit his past in Paris, he takes Marcel along with him for some brother-bonding. When Leo starts throwing his HIV medication into the canal, young Marcel grabs a handful of the tablets and pretends to swallow them, so upset is he of the fear of losing his brother. Who's the kid: Marcel or Leo?

With Christophe Honore both writing the script and directing, one wonders if this film is some kind of personal memoir, but, alas, there are no extras to tell us, apart from other promos and trailers of other movies.