I attended this film hoping I’d get some insight into my own 17-year-old daughter. Unless she selects potential partners by slugging them, however, this film had little to share. Being 17 follows two boys, one urban, one rural, through their lives and interactions, as they eventually punch their way into each other’s heart. Is this true of all boys who fight with one another? Well, no wonder rape is such a common occurrence in prison.
Thomas (Corentin Fila) is the country mouse. He hikes/buses to and from school three hours a day. His snow and bear infested trek is uphill both ways. When he finishes his daily Tour de France, he tends to a sick mother and the family cattle. Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein) gets driven to school, so clearly he’s a pussy, but compensates by failing at kickass lessons from uncle Polo (Jean Corso) for hours at a time. And one day at school, Thomas trips Damien for God-knows-what reason. Does he truly not like Damien? Does he recognize something similar in Damien? It seems odd that he singles the shorter boy out as a foe. Before long, Damien gives it back, embarrassing Thomas in trig (read: algebra) which leads to the two exchanging punches in the schoolyard.
Ah, now we’re getting somewhere … now we have some good insight … like, geez, Thomas, who taught you how to solve a quadratic? And what the Hell is up with how French kids draw the letter “x?” You make one slanty line, you cross it perpendicularly with another slanty line. What’s with the “inverted parentheses kissing” method? Is this what Votaire did? Descartes? L’Hôpital? Was Fermat’s second-to-last theorem “how to draw the letter ‘x?’ “ You guys totally confuse me.
Turns out Damien’s mom (Sandrine Kiberlain) is family doctor for Thomas’ fam. “Say, Damien, do you know Thomas? Isn’t he a great guy?” Gets better. Thomas’ mother needs to be hospitalized during the early stages of pregnancy and Mrs. Damien suggests Thomas come live with their family in the interim. This just has “good idea” written all over it, huh? It is presented during a parent-principal conference after the boys turned a basketball class into a wrestling match.
In the United States, forcing cohabitation with a person you loathe is called “college.” usually the parents aren’t involved, so they can absolve themselves of responsibility. Seriously, at this point in the movie, we’re only
guessing the animosity is a mask for passion – in either case, this seems irresponsible and stupid. But we do get the boys to start sharing … and more punching.
Being 17 is deliberately separated into three “trimesters,” which is an odd way of describing a love story between two males. I guess it allows us to hint that Thomas’ mom is pregnant two minutes ahead of when we should have found out. While I wasn’t sold on the passion, the movie did two things very well: first, it demonstrated both boys as complete individuals – it wasn’t focused on one with a half or partial picture of the other as in so many romances. Secondly, in giving each boy a perspective, it shied away from labels. I don’t see either Damien or Thomas as bully, instigator or target; they both had full share in their adventures, positively and negatively. I’m sure many will see this film as a male version of Blue is the Warmest Color, especially for some explicit scenes in Act III; I see it more as an honest version of the American teen romcom – not so rom, not so com, mostly confusing, but leading somewhere nice … eventually.
♪When I was seventeen
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for clocking the guy you wanted to bed
I took a stitch to the head and a lacerated spleen
When I was seventeen♫
Unrated, 116 Minutes
D: André Téchiné
W: Céline Sciamma, André Téchiné
Genre: Boys will be boys
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Closeted males
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Pick a category, any category – don’t like gays, don’t like the French, don’t like subtitles, don’t like boys, don’t like school kids, don’t like farmers, don’t like hiking, don’t like winter, etc.
♪ Parody inspired by “It Was a Very Good Year”
