AIDS

THE WITNESSES
Directed by André Téchiné
In French, with English subtitles
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave., at W. 3rd St.
(212-924-7771; ifccenter.com)

At the Center, Illness
André Téchiné’s story of incestuously intertwined friends maps our responses to AIDS

BY GARY M. KRAMER

André Téchiné’s exquisite drama “The Witnesses” chronicles the relationships between a handful of intersecting characters — a writer, a doctor, a policeman, and a teenager — in Paris, 1984. It is the start of the AIDS crisis and the impact of the disease on these characters forms the basis for this poignant and elegant drama.

Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart) is a children’s book author and a new mother, contemptuous of her unnamed baby that cramps her life and work. Her husband Mehdi (Sami Bouajila) is the chief detective of the vice squad cracking down on the pimps and whores working in a cheap hotel in town.

One of the residents of the hotel is Julie (Julie Depardieu), an opera singer, whose gay brother Manu (Johan Libéreau) comes to stay with her after just arriving in Paris. One night, Manu heads to the city’s cruising area and meets Adrien (Michel Blanc), an older gay man who develops a deep abiding love for Manu, but is not able to express it physically. He notes, with characteristic self-deprecation, that age is the one taboo in the gay community. It is one of the film’s many wise observations about how people relate to one another.

Adrien is friendly with Sarah, and when Adrien, Sarah, Manu, and Mehdi spend an afternoon together, the plot of this leisurely paced film starts to take shape. Manu and Mehdi go swimming, and Manu almost drowns. In a riveting sequence that is filled with eroticism, Mehdi saves Manu’s life. When the two men spend a subsequent afternoon together, Manu makes a pass at Mehdi, who initially rebuffs it. However, the two attractive men are soon embracing passionately in a field and become lovers.

Meanwhile, Adrien becomes godfather to Sarah’s baby, and Mehdi negotiates an understanding with his wife about extramarital affairs, without disclosing his relationship with Manu.

Téchiné ascribes a color symbol to each of the four major characters as a way of imbuing them with added layers of meaning. Mehdi is a fiery red. Sarah is a vibrant yellow and Adrien is a pure white. Manu, of course, wears a plaid shirt with all of these colors intertwined. In fact, he wears it in almost every scene. It is as if he never changes his shirt, except to strip down for sex, showering, or swimming.

And once Téchiné seduces the audience — getting them absorbed in the story, and caring about the characters—he introduces the dramatic turn when Manu contracts AIDS. Suddenly, the risks all of the characters take for love — Adrien’s inappropriate crushes, Sarah’s extramarital affair with her editor, and Mehdi’s secret relationship — all come into question. Even Manu, who enjoys life and lives freely, suffers. He even goes so far as to purchase a gun should his illness cause him too much pain.

“The Witnesses” depicts, with considerable depth and insight, how Manu’s illness has a ripple effect on those closest to him. The tenderness of these episodes creates the film’s power. As each of the main characters witnesses Manu succumbing to AIDS, they represent the various responses of those affected by the disease.

Significantly, Manu ends his relationship with Mehdi by avoiding him after being diagnosed. When Mehdi confronts him, Manu offers up his ravaged, naked body in a scene that is more troubling than sexy. Neither man can articulate what they are actually experiencing, and this paralysis is one of the film’s strongest points.

In contrast, Adrien, who discovers Manu’s condition, is furious and outspoken, not only because he is unable to cure his suffering friend, but also because Manu betrayed Sarah by cheating with her husband. His outbursts to Mehdi are especially striking. He also becomes politically active in understanding the disease through research and fundraising.

Sarah, however, is mobilized differently, using Manu’s story to overcome her writer’s block, and she assuages her guilt by contributing to Adrien’s charities. But is Sarah — whose voice-over narration is heard throughout the film — exploiting Manu, or justified in bearing witness to his story? Wisely, the film allows the audience to gauge the appropriate moral response.

Téchiné masterfully establishes the tone of the film, making it sexy, somber and yet not without its playful moments—such as a prostitute lip-synching for Manu in a bar. In addition, he elicits moving performances from his entire cast. Michel Blanc is perfectly cast as Adrien, and he lends the film its gravitas.

Emmanuelle Béart is pure vinegar as Sarah, and Sami Bouajila impresses as the conflicted Mehdi.

But it is Johan Libéreau in the pivotal role of Manu who truly steals the film, capturing both the insouciance of his character and the pathos. He never becomes pathetic or cloying, and neither does this fine film.