Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo

Name: Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: January 27, 2017
Duration: 97 min
Rating: 74

2017

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

See All

6.2

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.2	Your Score
6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Movie Details & Credits

Wolfe Releasing | Release Date: January 27, 2017 | Not Rated

Summary: In a sex club, Théo and Hugo’s bodies meet, click together and merge in a passionate embrace. After the headiness of desire and the ecstasy of their first encounter, the two young men, in the empty streets of Paris by night, are faced with their budding love. [Wolfe Releasing]

Director: Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 97 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Diego Semerene

Jan 18, 2017

Very few films accept the contradicting velocities of gay desire, and present them in such blunt yet graceful fashion, the way Paris 05:59 does. Read full review

Katie Walsh

Jan 26, 2017

Filmmaking duo Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau have crafted a film that articulates the ability for sex to produce just a little bit more love in the world, for a moment or an eternity. Read full review

Philip Kemp

Jan 18, 2017

Playing out in real time, Theo and Hugo offers a warm, frank, unexpectedly romantic view of relationships today. Read full review

Dave White

Jan 27, 2017

Their initial meeting, as orgiastic as it can possibly be, is shot by first-time cinematographer Manuel Marmier without pornography’s genitalia-focused aesthetic tropes, and with as much intimate and magical lighting as any old-fashioned musical sequence. Read full review

The Film Stage Rory O'Connor

Jan 18, 2017

Haigh’s debut really nailed the insecurities of discovering a lover’s idiosyncrasies and flaws, those that grate and those that charm. Paris 05:59 manages to capture that as well, and in doing so creates a sense of ambiguity as to whether any sort of love between the men can last. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Jan 26, 2017

Light on plot yet heavy on chemistry, Paris 05:59 is at times a little precious. But the two leads are so believably besotted that their occasional immaturity doesn’t rankle. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Godfrey Cheshire

Jan 27, 2017

Paris 05:59,’s charms are likely slight enough, and its raunch raunchy enough, to keep it from becoming one of those rare exceptions. Read full review

SEE ALL 11 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

GreatMartin

Jan 27, 2017

The film “Paris 05:59: Theo and Hugo” is three stories in one all melding together to tell a love story at its beginning, a coming out story as the leads get to know each other and how the French—seemingly more advanced than the USA—deal with and handle HIV and AIDES. Unfortunately it won’tThe film “Paris 05:59: Theo and Hugo” is three stories in one all melding together to tell a love story at its beginning, a coming out story as the leads get to know each other and how the French—seemingly more advanced than the USA—deal with and handle HIV and AIDES. Unfortunately it won’t be a crossover film as, probably, only non-gay people and those in the closet, who are still curious about male with male sex, will go see it as Theo and Hugo meet each other at a sex club in Paris and the first twenty minutes show what’s going on between others, them and their eventually getting together, graphically. It is the next 77 minutes that we follow the guys, in almost real time, and their blossoming love and problems.

The audience goes along with Theo and Hugo after they finish their first sexual encounter, leave the sex club and first bicycle then walk along the streets of Paris and look for something to eat.

We learn Theo is doing an internship in design while Hugo is a notary clerk. The latter escaped from a small Provence away from Paris while Theo was born and raised in Paris. The former learned about sex at rest stops but at heart remained a romantic and talks longingly about Mauriac and Balzac when discussing his job and wanting to become a notary and the story he hears. Theo’s back story isn’t spoken about that much though it is mentioned that he has a mentally disturbed father and though he has the internship he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his future though he knows he would like to help public. Hugo is a romantic optimist while Theo tends to be a realist and almost a pessimist.

It is not long after they leave the club that Hugo realizes Theo did not use a condom when they were having sex and the former tells the latter that he is HIV+ but after taking meds for a long period he is now diagnosed being undetectable and though both are mad Hugo insists they go immediately to the hospital. It is here where we see that people suspected of having been exposed to the virus are given immediate preferential treatment and a 28 day regime of taking pills. It may all sound documentary style and boring but they get to know each other more, and faster, as the fundamentals are talked about and shown. Theo is mad that Hugo didn’t tell him before having sex and Hugo is mad that Theo didn’t ask and automatically use a condom

The thing though is that they know they have some strong chemistry that binds them together. After they leave the hospital we see them struggling with what happened and what is happening while one contemplates the future and the other the present.

Francois Nambot (Hugo) and Geoffrey Couet (Theo) have that chemistry that makes each thing they say and do believable. A supporting cast, though not very prominent, such as a lady the guys meet on the Metro in the morning or the doctor at the hospital, are not important to the film, the former, or change anything between them, the latter, though she does show caring for those in their predicament.

The directors, who also wrote the screenplay, Olivier Ducastel and Jacques and Nartineau, remember what it is to fall in love and show the little and big things that can decide in one evening/early morning whether it will go anywhere or if it will end that morning.

The only jarring note was the music by Karelle-Kunter whose bombastic style, while fitting a few scenes, takes you out of the love story at other times. Young people should see this for both the falling in love and AIDS aspects while old people should see it to remember what it feels like to fall in love when you are/were young.

ALL Americans, including city planners, should see how Paris handles bicycles, their lanes and the stop lights having a lower light for the bike riders.

In spite of, or even because of, the first twenty minutes this is a film that shows love, sex, talk and just being human can lead people on life journeys worth taking.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 1 REVIEWS