Gerontophilia- The sexual preference for the elderly. A person
with such a sexual preference is a gerontophile.
Gerontophilia Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJtWmbBsRU
I'm not going to lie, I was highly curious about watching a movie centered around a man's hidden desires for elderly people-elderly men to be specific. It was a concept that I've never heard of being presented as a full-fledged movie before. I almost chose not to watch it because of it's uncommon plot, yet while I am fairly new to this kind of fetish, I felt that it would be wrong of me to disregard this movie solely because it talked about something I wasn't quite comfortable with.
This was in association with the LGBT films on Netflix, and the purpose for many of those films are to enlighten their audience on different sorts of love other than heterosexual. Due to our progressive yet still partially close-minded society on homosexuality, these kind of productions are necessary to add diversity to the film industry. So going into this, I was expecting to feel uncomfortable but I also expected to learn something fresh about how love can come from anywhere and how beauty is subjective and can never classified as one thing.
With that being said, did Gerontophilia end up helping me understand this kind of love or was it simply a creepy flick made only made to arouse?
The story for Gerontophilia sounds like a simple one: A young man's journey through discovering his true self and the consequences he must face and conquer because of it. According to the Netflix summary, it states that after needing to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an elderly man at the pool, he's hit with the realization that he is attracted to much older men.
However, the way the story is shown on screen had me thinking that the summary lied to me. Before the scene where main character, Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) must save the old man from drowning, he's shown as having an already strong attraction to older males and not being afraid to let it be known, doing things such as checking them out, drawing their naked bodies and even having a large poster of Gandhi on his bedroom wall. These were signs that were impossible to miss, so Lake saving that old man was not a big deal and was not the lightbulb that turned on in his' head that told him, "Hey! You like these kind of guys!"
Granted, Lake could have gone through a situation where he shows attraction to older men and even knows about it, but has not admitted it and has trouble coming to terms with himself, yet I feel like the movie could have shown that better through Lake's performance. It didn't seem like he went through so much turmoil in figuring out who he was, it looked more like he didn't care what other people thought and just didn't mention he liked older men because nobody asked him. Pretty much like a, "whatever" attitude to anything. In addition, a story is supposed to change a person either for better or for worse. With Lake, I don't think he even budged. He's attitude in the beginning felt the same at the end, if he had a lesson he didn't learn it. If he had a purpose, he didn't fill it. He was just there to me, as sad as it sounds.
Lake soon starts working for a nursing home where he tends to several patients, including a man named Mr. Melvyn Peabody (Walter Borden) that Lake takes great interest in and soon slowly inches himself closer to the older male in hopes of being his and his alone. The story feels like it's trying to make a statement about love and the treatment of elderly people, but fails to hit its mark. When it comes to the love between Lake and Mr. Peabody, I felt that the chemistry could have been stronger on Lake's end.
I feel like most of this movie's problems come from Lake...anyways, Lake's love for Mr. Peabody didn't seem too genuine. It felt like he was only spending time with him because he lusted after him, not to build a strong commitment.
While Lake was finding great interest in Mr. Peabody, he was still checking out other males. This told me that he was not fully committed to him. And this brings up a point about the movie, the fetish itself.
Gerontophilia is when someone is sexually attracted to elders, that is true, but what is not true is that someone can be attracted to every single elder they come across. Lake appears to have heart eyes from every old man he meets and that's not what gerontophilia is...I think not. It's similar to being straight or homosexual, you find yourself attracted to a certain sex but that doesn't mean you're lusting after every one who fits that role. That sounds exaggerated and unrealistic, unless someone was a satyriasis or nymphomaniac.
I learned that this movie was Pier-Gabriel Lajoie's first actual film he starred in and I can clearly notice. I wasn't convinced with his acting as Lake and I was begging for him to get out of his shell and give the character more life than what he was given. Since Lake is main focus of the movie, he is the one that must prove to the audience that guys like him can fall in love with even the most unlikely of people as well as sympathize with those who are dealing with forbidden love. Watching him act on screen was unfortunately like watching a cardboard fall in love.
There are scenes where Lajoie must speak french and he seems to know the language fluently, and I think that if this movie was completely in french then maybe the actor would be more comfortable with the part and allow himself to be the character and not just reads lines off the script.
His love interest on the other hand was a refreshment between the two. Mr. Peabody's actor did fine with his role and was a delight to watch with his quick wit and flamboyant attitude. Side characters including Lake's girlfriend, Désirée (Katie Boland) and his mother were so bad they were laughable. Désirée whole persona is full on feminist revolutionary solider chick and there's a scene with the mother where she is hurt badly, yet her face just screams as though someone's just waving her most hated food in her face. I would deem these actresses to be very awful, yet when looking at the genres for this movie, it says that it is a drama, romance and a comedy. So...their acting could be justified.
Looking at this movie as a whole though, I found a majority of it laughable, like it was pushing the drama part out of the script and making it a complete comedy.
Now obviously, some films can contain a majority of comedy than drama, just look at movie parodies. But I sense that the director was not trying to make this movie more funny than emotional. I couldn't tell which scenes were meant to be dark and brooding or heartwarming or emotional. There were times where I felt bad for laughing because I felt like I should be feeling something much more softer.
The soundtrack for the movie had good songs, but really took more than was needed. I took note that when I was 20 minutes into the movie, at least three full songs played in the movie and onwards, a plethora of songs came forth. I don't think there were many scenes that had silence in the background and sometimes you need that for those touching scenes where we learn about the relationship of the characters.
In the end, I find this movie to be lost in its message. It wants to break out more and find its footing but does not feel settled with where they are. This movie discusses side plots on how badly the elderly are treated in the nursing home and Lake's disdain for his stepdad, but these are thrown out as soon as they're put in. The main plot between Lake and Mr. Peabody could've been sweeter if we went more into Lake's inner turmoil and how he overcomes that to love Mr. Peabody. I think the comedy throws off the drama and ultimately makes this film one that is more laughable than it is romantic, and to me, I don't think that was the true purpose the director and writers were going for.
Would I recommend this movie? That's tough...I would say if you are curious to watch new things like this and can handle looking at several close ups of elderly men shirtless and completely nude, you can entertain your day by watching this strange production. Gerontophilia is not the worst movie I've seen, it has potential, but it is just floating around...searching for a greater purpose. I would give this film 2 out of 5 stars. You could live without seeing it, but if you watch it, you might just remember it for a long time.
SPOILER ALERT!
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Lake ends up getting a boner after giving mouth-to-mouth to the drowning old man and two girls notice and laugh at him. Now I know boners can be very apparent, but...would girls their age really notice that right away? Lake was wearing black shorts after all, perhaps if he wore white it would be more likely to see the tent in his pants, but I don't really believe girls their age would quickly notice his boner, know what it means and laugh at him for it.
There is a sudden lead in to a sex scene with Lake and a random old man who didn't seem to like Lake and was masturbating to a nude women's magazine. After that, the old man is back to not liking Lake. What was the point of that? To show he's into guys? That COULD work, if they weren't trying to make Lake and Mr. Peabody a thing.
Does someone who just starts out in a nursing home ends up in a private room with a patient. Shouldn't a more experienced person go into private rooms with them?
There wasn't good chemistry with Lake and Désirée and they were a couple and probably had sex too! Lake just seems so standoffish with her, I'm surprised she didn't find out what he liked sooner.
Désirée mentions that Lake is a saint in one scene and days (or weeks) later when they break up, he says he's not a saint. And he says it one more time when describing a nursing home assistant that he wasn't too fond of. Why say that? That doesn't make sense at all.
After Lake and Désirée broke up, went their separate ways and had that weird scene, I could only laugh. Was that meant to be funny? Were we supposed to feel bad? I don't know!
The scene where Lake and Mr. Peabody walk outside and soft piano music plays is actually pretty cute.
Even when Désirée is leaving Lake, she has to add in her revolution this and that!
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