★★★★★ by Ifan Llewelyn
The life of a male escort is one that is rarely explored on the big screen, with Hollywood’s fixation with female sex workers dominating the narrative when it comes to telling these stories. In Sauvage, the rough surface of a life spent road-side selling one’s body is not given the standard cinematic lacquer; instead, a detailed, gritty portrait of the life of a homeless hustler.
Léo has his typical spot on the outskirts of Paris where he stands exposed to the elements year-round, waiting for clients to pull up and buy his company for the evening. As the weathered sex worker, Félix Maritaud gives a performance that has received universal praise. Seeing him endure tribulations ranging from physical abuse to emotional rejection is gruelling. What is truly effective about his performance is the undeniable sympathy he draws in, being truly authentic in trying to survive his feral world. He encounters men as they try to satisfy their most base and carnal needs, living in a world stripped of its veneer of society and instead is something resembling the fight over the carcass of a gazelle in the Serengeti. He is used up and discarded time and again.
Director Camille Vidal-Naquet delivers an intimacy to the harrowing scenes that litter this piece, including one particularly brutal scene featuring a pair of sadists and a large anal plug. He translates compassion for our morally complicated protagonist who you almost understand, even when he’s conspiring to drug and rob his next customer. When it comes to telling this story of the socially outcast, it’s a truly impressive feat not to have a voyeuristic quality to the camera’s gaze.
What you’re left with at the end of Sauvage is an overwhelming sense of hopelessness at the human condition as we crash through this life searching for those fundamental comforts of love and compassion. Léo’s struggle doesn’t come to a definite end, but rather carries on long after the credits start rolling as he continues his life on the fringes of society. You’re left with the reality that Léo’s probably still out there trying to make his way through the world in the face of the unrelenting onslaught of rejection, loss and violence.
Sauvage is available to stream on Vimeo, and to buy on iTunes and Amazon. It’s also out on DVD and Blu Ray on Monday 3rd June. For more info head to https://www.sauvage.film/
