Before I Forget
The third in a trilogy of semi-autobiographical films by writer-director Jacques Nolot (Porn Theater), Before I Forget is a harsh and darkly deadpan character study at the intersection of aging, homosexuality and prostitution.
Pierre (played by Nolot himself) is an HIV-positive male escort on the precarious precipice of 60, set adrift by the death of his longtime sugar daddy.
When his ex-lover's family cuts Pierre out of the will, the hustler's prospects for a comfortable twilight are thrown into jeopardy. Too old to get a new patron and too long steeped in the life of selling sex to find a new career, Pierre is increasingly resigned to awaiting his own death.
In his inability to move forward, he instead begins to look back: he visits fellow hustlers (hiring the younger ones as sexual companions), reminisces with a therapist about his recently ended "arrangement," and finally begins to write his memoirs.
Seething with Nolot's trademark lack of romance, Before I Forget nonetheless achieves profound serenity despite its warnings of the perils of age.
While Pierre's situation is desperate, Nolot's performance and direction create an overall atmosphere of acceptance; what the elderly escort loses in optimism, he makes up for in awareness.
Nolot self-deprecatingly reveals his own naked body not only to make clear Pierre's withering assets (highly damning in his chosen line of work), but also to hint at a sense of brazen self-assuredness--a gift, if the only one, of the character's advancing years.
The filmmaker's stark, minimalist visuals and Pierre's wry, ruminating dialogue depict a life that may have lost purpose, but will never lack meaning.
Starring: Jacques Nolot, Jean-Pol Dubois, Marc Rioufol, Bastien d'Asnieres
Before I Forget is released 17th April