As audiences, we are used to perceiving cinema as a coming together of various structural units – a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The director duo of Isidore Bethel and Francis Leplay are on a mission to dismantle this belief of ours. Their project Acts of Love is full of ‘acts’ and ‘love’ as it is shot in a documentary style with non-professional actors sharing private details and moments of intimacy with a 30-something budding filmmaker.  

‘Real people do unexpected things’, says one of the subjects/actors who participate in the project, and it beautifully sums up the essence of the film. Isidore Bethel plays himself as the filmmaker who encourages strangers to bare their soul, body and more, in front of the camera for his benefit. His mother rightfully accuses him of using people for the sake of executing his film which according to her doesn’t really sound like much, on paper. Bethel understands the importance of being earnest in seeing this passion project of his through. There is a right mix of confidence and vulnerability in his personality that makes his subjects/actors instantly trust him and also emotionally manipulates him, whenever they get the chance. 

In the very beginning, we are told that Bethel decides to embark on a new project as a means of distracting himself from his complicated love life. We never get to see his lover throughout the duration of the film. It is possible that the absent lover is just a cinematic device – an impetus – to create an innovative piece of work. 

Bethel’s constant and fiercest critic – his mother, whose voice we only hear on the phone – gives him a reality check, on a regular basis. Her honest opinions are deliberately used to gift the film its sober and meditative moments. The mise-en-scène is filled with frontal nudity and explicit homoerotic photographs to create an atmosphere of erotica and the words of his actors serve as the ‘incoherent plot’ that follows the principle of ‘don’t try to define it, let it define itself’. 

Partly narcissistic and hugely experimental in nature, Acts of Love takes its time to draw you into its world but once it does, you will be privy to some of the most raw and unfiltered moments of gay intimacy on celluloid. And just like the filmmaker Isidore Bethel, you will find ‘meaning after the fact

Screening at Chicago International Film Fest on 10/19 for all future screenings 

https://www.outplayfilms.com/video/acts-of-love/.

 

Review by  David Lagachu 

Queeruru’s newest Correspondent lives in India “I am constantly trying to find a perfect balance between academia and my love for writing about films, pop and queer culture. I consider myself a global citizen and would love to be a part of  a significant history of mankind.”   i@maglobalcitizen