The Best Way to Walk

Claude Miller, 1976, France, 85min, DCP
Starring Patrick Dewaere, Patrick Bouchitey, Christine Pascal, Claude Piéplu, Michel Blanc

Progressive in its day and still affecting now, Claude Miller’s mighty debut feature provided Patrick Dewaere with one of his meatiest roles. He plays macho athletics leader Marc to Patrick Bouchitey’s sensitive theater instructor Philippe—two camp counselors working in opposition during the summer of 1960. When Marc catches Philippe in drag one night, he proceeds to aggressively torment him, out of disgust or likely desire. Intense toxic masculinity is somewhat softened by the emotionally and sexually frank film’s willingness to expose Marc’s vulnerabilities. With Dewaere and Bouchitey joined by Christine Pascal as Philippe’s unknowing girlfriend (and Bruno Nuytten’s César-winning camerawork), repression, forbidden yearning, and doomed innocence never looked so good.