"What Love Means" tells the story of HIV and Aids in Europe. The first and only European film to capture the topic in all its private and political complexity has now been released on DVD.
For a quarter of a century, the cinematic view of HIV and AIDS has been characterised by Anglo-American films. There have been gems such as "Zero Patience" or "Farewell Glances", epics such as "Angels in America", and above all, when we think of HIV and cinema, we naturally think of maudlin films such as "Philadelphia".
"What Love Means" is a small revolution in the artistic treatment of the virus and its consequences. Conceived as a two-parter for French television, the film takes the reins out of Hollywood's hands.
In almost four hours, director Renaud Bertrand tells the story of HIV and Aids in Europe with great precision, patience and emotional depth. The disease is not simply viewed as a tragic fate, but is portrayed in all its political and private dimensions. As perhaps the first European film ever on the subject, "What Love Means" makes the topic of HIV/Aids tangible in all its complexity. And at the same time, it manages to entertain its audience brilliantly.
"What Love Means" tells the story of Nicolas and Bruno. Nicolas is gay, Bruno is straight, Nicolas is negative, Bruno is positive. Nicolas is a political counsellor, Bruno is a carpenter. In the film, the two opposites raise a child together over a period of 20 years. It is the son of Bruno and Nicolas' sister, who died in a bomb attack.
Bruno is seriously injured in the attack. In hospital, he is infected by a blood bag, while Nicolas has long since got used to burying friends from the scene and being scared during sex. "What Love Means" is never told with a sledgehammer, but historical facts such as the French scandal about positive blood bags in the mid-1980s flow naturally into the film.
The film doesn't shy away from the big, difficult questions either: euthanasia, sex between positives and negatives, the political upheavals in the gay movement as its participants die off, HIV and work and the public stigmatisation of positives - all of this is told in an unobtrusive and delicate way, and the director and screenwriter allow the viewer to meet the characters year after year and thus perceive the subtlest changes in them and their surroundings. And as their film is also a successful family epic, some of the characters remain in the memory for a long time. Nicola's mother Hélène, for example. In this role, actress Clémentine Célarié embodies all of society's prejudices about gays and positivity in a single character - and still manages not to make you hate Hélène. Instead, you understand the psychological mechanics behind it and want to help her. A masterly performance.
Like the entire film. It proves it: Whenever filmmakers take the time to lovingly and precisely illuminate the subject of HIV, the result is extraordinary works. "What Love Means" is right up there with "Early Frost", "And Life Goes On" and "Angels in America", closing a gap in the European film canon: the film is the big hit, the European epic about HIV and AIDS that you always wanted to see.
(Paul Schulz)
"What love means", France 2007, Edition Salzgeber
Trailer on the Edition Salzgeber website
In its online shop, Edition Salzgeber offers the possibility of combining the purchase of the DVD with a donation of 5 euros to the Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe. Thank you very much for this!
