Savage Nights
Encyclopedia
Les Nuits Fauves is a 1992
French
drama film
directed and written by Cyril Collard
. It stars Collard, Romane Bohringer
and Carlos López. The film is an adaptation of Collard's semi-autobiographical novel Les Nuits Fauves, published in 1989. It won four César Awards including Best Film.
Jean and Laura's relationship is complicated by his HIV status which initially he hides from her. Only after they have had sex does he tell her. At first, Laura is furious and her mother is equally livid. However, Laura is by then deeply in love with Jean. She not only continues the relationship, but refuses to use condoms as Jean wanted.
Jean is also deeply troubled in accepting his disease. “Drop your illusions. Learn from your disease” suggests his friend Noria. But peaceful acceptance does not come easy for him. His life ricochets from one coupling to the next, trying to make sense of his situation. He is a damned rebel, which he defines as :" Someone marked by fate and with real dignity inside".
Laura has emotional problems of her own. At one point, she erupts at the owner of the dress shop where she works and loses her job. Her feelings reach a boiling point in dealing with Jean’s bisexuality that includes not only Jean’s relationship with Samy, but anonymous sex with multiple partners in dark cruising spots. In these worthless sex encounters, Jean releases his self-destructive drive and finds refuge from the frustrations brought by his illness and his affairs with Laura and Samy.
As Samy acquires a taste for sadomasochism and violence, he turns to Jean. He moves in with him, leaving Marianne, who angrily berates Jean. After a fight with racist skinheads, Samy finally consummates his relationship with Jean and tells him that he loves him. Laura turns increasingly angry and desperate, disappointed in her relationship with Jean. "Help me to leave you!" is her pathetic cry. Jean is emotionally closed. After a night out of drinking and partying Jean yells "I want to live," to his friends, but mostly he seems in denial that he is dying. The next morning Laura finds him in bed not only with Samy, but with his ex girlfriend. Laura throws a big tantrum and her emotions spring out of control. From then on, she leaves endless, long messages on Jean’s answering machine. In some, she begs for love, in others she threatens to ruin his life.
Reaching her breaking point, Laura threats Jean with committing suicide and tells him that he has infected her with the HIV
virus. Only then, Jean intervenes and with Laura’s mother they find psychological help for her. Jean repeatedly fails to find meaning in his life. A conversation with his mother is only painful. Returning home, he is involved in car accident. He is as reckless in his sex life as with HIV medication which he avoids when it interferes with his drinking and partying.
After sometime, Jean looks again for Laura. He finally wants to tell her that he loves her, but she has overcome her turbulent relationship with him. Making peace with herself, Laure has a new boyfriend. Jean and Laura have a short conversation, they kiss tenderly and part ways. Jean finally finds peace with his HIV status and with his life.
where it had 2,811,124 admissions and was the 9th highest grossing film of the year. It went on to take four Césars (Best Film, Best First Film, Best Film Editing, and Best Female Newcomer - Romane Bohringer) in March 1993—three days after it's writer/director/star died of AIDS.
, like tuberculosis in Thomas Mann
's The Magic Mountain
, is just a backdrop [in Savage Nights]. Jean's struggle with the illness is also a struggle with stupidity, with all sorts of racism, with tyranny... Jean acts as though nothing were different in his daily life. He continues to drink, laugh, and drive fast. In his own way, he is shattering the taboos. He does not let himself get locked into the status of being HIV-positive, like some people for whom the illness becomes a sort of identity card."
- Cyril Collard, writer/director/actor, Savage Nights
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
drama film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed and written by Cyril Collard
Cyril Collard
Cyril Collard was a French author, filmmaker, composer, musician and actor. He is known for his unapologetic portrayals of bisexuality and HIV in art, particularly his autobiographical novel and film Les Nuits Fauves...
. It stars Collard, Romane Bohringer
Romane Bohringer
Romane Bohringer is a French actress, film director, screenwriter and costume designer. She is the daughter of Richard Bohringer and sister of Lou Bohringer. Her parents named her after Roman Polanski....
and Carlos López. The film is an adaptation of Collard's semi-autobiographical novel Les Nuits Fauves, published in 1989. It won four César Awards including Best Film.
Plot
“I feel I go through life like an American tourist, doing as many towns as possible”, explains Jean, a camera man and aspiring film director. Handsome, but self-centered, childish and hedonistic, he has a complicated sex life. He is bisexual and HIV positive. During a casting session he meets Laura, a feisty eighteen-year-old. Captivated by her charm, Jean soon is pursuing her and she quickly falls in love with him. They start a passionate affair. At the same time, the restless Jean pursues a relationship with Samy, a young rugby player. Samy, who has emigrated with his mother and brother from Spain, is unemployed and equally troubled. He is straight and although living with his girlfriend, Marianne, he has no qualms about his homoerotic relationship with Jean, who has a big crush on him.Jean and Laura's relationship is complicated by his HIV status which initially he hides from her. Only after they have had sex does he tell her. At first, Laura is furious and her mother is equally livid. However, Laura is by then deeply in love with Jean. She not only continues the relationship, but refuses to use condoms as Jean wanted.
Jean is also deeply troubled in accepting his disease. “Drop your illusions. Learn from your disease” suggests his friend Noria. But peaceful acceptance does not come easy for him. His life ricochets from one coupling to the next, trying to make sense of his situation. He is a damned rebel, which he defines as :" Someone marked by fate and with real dignity inside".
Laura has emotional problems of her own. At one point, she erupts at the owner of the dress shop where she works and loses her job. Her feelings reach a boiling point in dealing with Jean’s bisexuality that includes not only Jean’s relationship with Samy, but anonymous sex with multiple partners in dark cruising spots. In these worthless sex encounters, Jean releases his self-destructive drive and finds refuge from the frustrations brought by his illness and his affairs with Laura and Samy.
As Samy acquires a taste for sadomasochism and violence, he turns to Jean. He moves in with him, leaving Marianne, who angrily berates Jean. After a fight with racist skinheads, Samy finally consummates his relationship with Jean and tells him that he loves him. Laura turns increasingly angry and desperate, disappointed in her relationship with Jean. "Help me to leave you!" is her pathetic cry. Jean is emotionally closed. After a night out of drinking and partying Jean yells "I want to live," to his friends, but mostly he seems in denial that he is dying. The next morning Laura finds him in bed not only with Samy, but with his ex girlfriend. Laura throws a big tantrum and her emotions spring out of control. From then on, she leaves endless, long messages on Jean’s answering machine. In some, she begs for love, in others she threatens to ruin his life.
Reaching her breaking point, Laura threats Jean with committing suicide and tells him that he has infected her with the HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
virus. Only then, Jean intervenes and with Laura’s mother they find psychological help for her. Jean repeatedly fails to find meaning in his life. A conversation with his mother is only painful. Returning home, he is involved in car accident. He is as reckless in his sex life as with HIV medication which he avoids when it interferes with his drinking and partying.
After sometime, Jean looks again for Laura. He finally wants to tell her that he loves her, but she has overcome her turbulent relationship with him. Making peace with herself, Laure has a new boyfriend. Jean and Laura have a short conversation, they kiss tenderly and part ways. Jean finally finds peace with his HIV status and with his life.
Cast
Collard was not his own first choice for Jean, but he took the role when no other French actor was willing to risk playing a character so closely identified with AIDS and bisexuality. Collard's longtime companion, Corine Blue, plays the role of Laure's mother in the film.- Cyril CollardCyril CollardCyril Collard was a French author, filmmaker, composer, musician and actor. He is known for his unapologetic portrayals of bisexuality and HIV in art, particularly his autobiographical novel and film Les Nuits Fauves...
- Jean - Romane BohringerRomane BohringerRomane Bohringer is a French actress, film director, screenwriter and costume designer. She is the daughter of Richard Bohringer and sister of Lou Bohringer. Her parents named her after Roman Polanski....
- Laura - Carlos López - Samy
- Corine Blue - Laura’s Mother
- Claude Winter - Jean’s Mother
- René-Marc Bini - Marc
- Maria SchneiderMaria Schneider (actress)Maria Schneider was a French actress. She was best known for playing Jeanne, opposite Marlon Brando, in the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris.-Career:...
- Noria
Reception
Released in October 1992, Savage Nights caused an immediate stir across FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where it had 2,811,124 admissions and was the 9th highest grossing film of the year. It went on to take four Césars (Best Film, Best First Film, Best Film Editing, and Best Female Newcomer - Romane Bohringer) in March 1993—three days after it's writer/director/star died of AIDS.
Director's view
"AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, like tuberculosis in Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
's The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of 20th century German literature....
, is just a backdrop [in Savage Nights]. Jean's struggle with the illness is also a struggle with stupidity, with all sorts of racism, with tyranny... Jean acts as though nothing were different in his daily life. He continues to drink, laugh, and drive fast. In his own way, he is shattering the taboos. He does not let himself get locked into the status of being HIV-positive, like some people for whom the illness becomes a sort of identity card."
- Cyril Collard, writer/director/actor, Savage Nights