Movie Review - Sauvage / Wild

There's plenty of queer cinema that is about male prostitutes or male sex workers. There are so many about male sex workers that it could be its own sub-genre. There are so many that when I saw Boy Culture (2007), there was a joke where the protagonist said in a fourth-wall-breaking voice over that the reason you know that he's a prostitute is because he's gay and he's the lead in a movie. It's not a majority of films, but the sub-genre is quite significant. This is because sex workers represent a significant portion of the LGBTQ community. Some films depict sex workers in a positive way like My Own Private Idaho (1991), Boy Culture (2007), Strapped (2010) and Retake (2017). Other films depict sex workers in a negative way or the more darker side of sex work like Johns (1997), Sugar (2004), Our Paradise (2013), McCanick (2014) and Eastern Boys (2015).

I tend to like the films that are positive or more balanced about the lives of sex workers. As a film that leans more toward the negative or darker side of sex work, I was less inclined to enjoy this film, written and directed by Camille Vidal-Naquet in his feature debut. However, there are some really compelling scenes in this film that flow from one to the other without much of a plot. Yet, it all does build to something interesting. Yes, this film is less a narrative as it is a character study.

Félix Maritaud (Knife + Heart and BPM (Beats Per Minute)) stars as Léo, a young French man living in some unnamed city. As a matter of fact, it's not clear if his name is actually Léo. He's referred to by people as "draga," but it's not clear as to why they call him that. It could be a cultural French thing that I don't understand. Nevertheless, Léo is a sex worker, a male prostitute. The opening scene, like the opening scene in Boy Culture, would suggest that he has regular clients. Yet, the majority of this film is him waiting for clients by simply standing on the side of a specific road. There is an unnamed road somewhere in the city that goes through a park or near some wooded area where Léo and a bunch of other prostitutes hang out.

He stands on this road during the daytime or sometimes into the night waiting for men to drive past and stop. He waits for these men to pick him up and pay him for sex. Sometimes, he'll go to other places to pick up men like a gay bar or nightclub, but mostly he hangs out on this one specific road. It's not clear how long he's been doing this or what his backstory is, although it's implied that his backstory is not that dissimilar from probably a lot of gay hustlers who were thrown out of their homes because their families learned they were gay and became hustlers in order to survive while being homeless. Léo looks a little too old to be your average homeless, gay youth, which suggests his homelessness and hustling is probably due to a drug addiction or substance abuse problem that he had. There is some hint to that in this film, but it's never really confirmed.

Eric Bernard co-stars as Ahd, another young French man living in the same city as Léo. Again, it's not clear if his name is actually Ahd, but the name seemingly fits. From what I could learn, "Ahd" is a Middle Eastern word that people who speak Urdu or Arabic might use. Ahd certainly doesn't look like he's totally white, not like Léo. Ahd looks like he could be Middle Eastern, as if maybe his family is from Algeria or some place in the Middle East. He's one of the gay hustlers standing on the same road as Léo, waiting to be picked up by men. Yet, it's not clear if Ahd is actually gay or something else.

What is clear is that Léo is attracted to Ahd and even claims to be in love with him. Ahd seems to have some affection for Léo, but he resists being labeled as gay or "faggot," as he says. There's several moments where Ahd rejects Léo's affection. One notable moment has him go off with a woman, not for money but seemingly for personal satisfaction. There's also another notable moment when Ahd states that he's only prostituting because he wants to find a wealthy older man, a sugar daddy that will help him get out of this situation and to a better one where he doesn't have to sell his body. It's notable because in that same scene Ahd indicates that Léo doesn't seem to want to get out of this situation and that Léo likes prostituting.

This becomes the underlining question of the whole film because it's not clear what Léo ultimately wants. It's obvious that he loves Ahd, but Ahd draws a line that he won't cross, making himself totally unavailable to Léo. It takes a while for this to get through to Léo. As he drifts from one sexual situation to the next, Léo's health declines. There is even a terrifying moment where we think Léo might die and it begs the question if Léo wants to continue living the way that he has, as a homeless hustler. It's not clear what he gets out of it. We never see him enjoy any of his sexual encounters with the possible exception of the opening scene. It seems like he's barely making any money. He's offered help and even salvation, which he needs and recognizes, and he even seems to embrace it. However, he did seem to pin all his hopes on Ahd and when Ahd rejects him, his only instinct is to revert to a feral animal rummaging the streets or else be a stray in the woods.

Not Rated but contains intense sexuality and full-frontal male nudity.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 39 mins.

Available on DVD and VOD.