«Love, Simon»: but how do you come out?

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

«So, as I was saying, I'm just like you. I have a totally, perfectly normal life.»

It is rather cool as a guy and he's handsome. At school, everything's going well. His family is nothing to complain about. And his group of friends is tight-knit and great. Simon leads a «totally, perfectly normal» life. But there's a secret he's neglected to tell everyone around him: he's gay. Of course, he's gone out with girls to act like, But it's the boys who give her butterflies.

Let's make sure the butterflies stay in the belly and don't spread everywhere. Simon doesn't know how to go about making his coming out; Simon isn't ready. And that's fine. But then a boy at school comes out as gay on social networks. Obviously, he's chosen anonymity to express what's deep inside him, without having to face the consequences in society. Simon is not indifferent. He decides, also anonymously, to write to this boy. «I'm just like you.» A reply, a new e-mail and the affinity ignites. While the love story epistolary correspondence is in full swing, a spirit more clumsy than malevolent stumbles upon the correspondence. And everything becomes more complicated for Simon and his secret.

An outcry against voice dubbing

Love, Simon for some, it could contain all the flaws of cinema; for others, it would be a brilliant film about coming out in this world of brutes. Without falling into the ideology of pro or contra But, as you'd expect, it also has that special something that makes it special, in a positive sense. In true American style, the main protagonist's family embodies the good, familiar bourgeois model of the virile father and the tender, attentive mother. Friends enjoy Halloween, drink iced coffee and laugh while dancing in the car.

Of course, it's all ridiculous and off-putting. In any case, this High School Musical is now inherent in popular cinema aimed at teenagers. These flaws are not really flaws at all, since they are not failures, but a style, however bad it may be. What's more, these flaws are more than expected and predictable. So you know you're going to find them before you've even seen the film. So there's no need to pick on them; others already do, and have even become grumpy specialists.

However, the question of voice dubbing needs to be asked at least once and for all. Why on earth are French translations of this type of film always the same? Why are they always as flat as they are grotesque? They in no way reflect the way young people speak French, and the intonations resemble those of the most pathetic commercials. Today, I'm making a solemn request to dubbing companies to renew their dubbers a little and stop - for pity's sake! - the massacre of original voices. You can hear in the English trailer that Simon's voice is perfectly normal, so there's no need for the dubbing company to give him a falsely adolescent voice that humiliates this poor actor.

The search for self

A word to the wise, Love, Simon is part of a style that he assumes, but which he also knows how to surpass. That's what makes it stand out from the crowd and appeal. The film's first great quality is Simon. His personality. The character is built by the director Greg Berlanti with maturity and depth. Young people understand that coming out or not, his personality won't change. He even shows that his homosexuality doesn't make him who he is. Simon is homosexual, of course, but he is Simon first and foremost. It's a powerful message at a time when sexual orientation is sometimes seen in a communitarian light.

In the same vein, there are the screenplay choices that don't make homosexuality the film's central subject. Love, Simon evokes the difficult path of a young homosexual. But it doesn't stop there. Instead, the film focuses on the assumption of self during adolescence. Who am I in the eyes of others? Who am I inside? Do I have value? Can I please? How can I please? What about freedom? How can I be free? How can I be happy? These seemingly banal and superficial questions are in fact essential at an age when we're building ourselves up and losing many of the landmarks and securities of childhood. They need to reach young people through a channel that reaches them. Cinema is one such channel. So is Simon's story.

Not afraid of humor

In keeping with the film's healthy spirit, humor has its place. In an operation to cut down on caricatures of the typical homosexual or whining laments about a life that's too hard and unfair, Love, Simon rises. Modesty, or a certain self-righteousness, often prevents the homosexual subject from being funny; because it's too serious, they say, because it's marked by too much discrimination, because it's sacred. Simon's story takes the opposite approach. The character of Simon himself takes the opposite view. Without ever denying or belittling himself, he knows how to laugh at himself, at his clumsiness in trying to fit in with the rest of the world. gay classic.

Some scenes leave the viewer with a kind, affectionate smile on his lips. Particularly when Simon imagines himself in a musical. gay in which he would play the lead role. Or when he Googles images to help him make a style his own. gay. He types «gay style» into his search bar and tries on very slim pants or tight little T-shirts, but ends up keeping his pair of jeans and his good old sweatshirt’.

Another innocent and pleasant scene: he wants to learn how to talk about the boys he likes in the company of girls. The girls, very much at ease, exclaim with exaltation: «He's got a great ass! He, less at ease, tries to repeat the expression in a crazy voice, but notices that it's not natural for him and laughs it off.

So what if it's a happy ending?

Without giving too much away, you know that in this kind of film, all's well that ends well. Without being angelic, the denouement of Love, Simon doesn't necessarily correspond to reality. We know how destructive family tragedies can be. Does this mean the film is devoid of meaning? Absolutely not. Yes, there's the famous happy end. So what? Why not encourage young homosexuals to come to terms with their sexuality and hope for a peaceful life?

Love, Simon entertains. Love, Simon raises awareness. And even if it can't work miracles, it can give every young person, homosexual or not, a helping hand in the quest to be fully themselves, in the firm resolve to remain free, in the desire to live, in the choice of happiness, in the construction of a true love story.

«I deserve to live a love story.»

Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Twentieth Century Fox