Fridae

There’s a hell of a lot of reasons for us to envy the French. Besides their fine dining, "high culture" and democracy, they also happen to have a damn good record on gay rights. 

They got rid of their anti-gay sex laws back in 1791, right after the French Revolution. (Hear that, leaders of Singapore and Malaysia? Our laws are 200 years out of date!) Since then, the country’s also outlawed homophobic hate speech and discrimination at work, and legalised domestic partnerships, which are just one step below marriage. 

But there’s something missing from the picture: children. The current domestic partnership laws don’t allow gay couples to have adoptions or artificial inseminations, even though the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that gay couples should have the right to adopt. 

Cast (left to right): Pascal Elbé as Philippe, Lambert Wilson as Manu
and Lopez de Ayala Pilar as Fina

This is where Vincent Garenq comes in. In 2008, he released his romantic comedy Comme Les Autres (Like Other People), which is sometimes also known by its English title, Baby Love. It’s a film that puts a human face on the gay rights issue, telling the story of a gay man trying to become a father – and it’s been a big success so far for this first-time film director. 

The movie stars Lambert Wilson, whom many of us remember as the Merovingian in The Matrix Reloaded (2003). Here, he plays Manu, a gay pediatrician in his forties, in a loving relationship with a lawyer named Philippe. When he suddenly realises he wants a child of his own, Philippe can’t deal with the news, and leaves him. 

Manu’s left heartbroken, hunting for a surrogate mother. Then he happens to meet Gina, a stunning illegal immigrant from Colombia, who’s willing to bear his child in return for a marriage of convenience. 

To know what happens next, you’ll have to catch the movie itself at the 26th French Film Festival in Singapore, organised by the Alliance Francaise. Screenings are planned for Saturday, 2 October at the Alliance Francaise Building, as well as Wednesday, 6 October at Cathay Cineplex. 

Meanwhile, we were able to get an interview with Garenq himself (though we had to translate the answers into English ourselves!). Interestingly enough, it turns out he’s straight, and has two kids. He does have a lot of gay friends, though – including his kids’ pediatrician. 

Director Vincent Garenq (left) with actor Lambert Wilson

æ: Age, sex, occupation, location?

Vincent: 43, M, director, Paris, France.

æ: Tell us a bit about Comme les autres/Baby Love. How did you get the idea for the movie?

Vincent: It was almost ten years ago that I learned that Manu, my best friend from high school, was gay. I gave his name to the character played by Lambert Wilson. [He told me] he went on a weekend with his boyfriend and a couple of lesbians to get acquainted, and perhaps to conceive and raise a child together! I remember being very surprised and amused by this situation, and then thought that there was a subject for a film there.

At the time, we had just started talking about gay parenting. It was well before the huge wave of media in recent years. I urged him to tell me about it in more detail, and he told me about APGL, an association of gay and lesbian parents. Through this association, I met families and heard their stories, which were often very powerful and moving. 

æ: Can you tell us what’s the situation like in France for gay parents today? Are adoption laws improving?

Vincent: In France and in Europe, there’s been a veritable explosion in the number of these families. In ten years, we’ve gone from shame (these families were hiding themselves because they were taboo) to the propagation and pride of these families… I think that we can say today that these families are perfectly integrated into society. And I think that these laws have been evolving very favourably in recent times. In a few years, we went from “terror” to a true openness in society regarding this subject.

æ: How did you go from doing television to making this film?

Vincent: When I was at FEMIS [the French state film school], I dreamed of making movies, but that wasn’t so simple. I worked in television to earn a living… I loved doing those travel documentaries. As for the rest, it was just disappointment.

I waited so long to go into cinema that making this film was an immense joy for me. At one point my producer was worried because he had never seen a first-time director with so little anxiety making his first movie! Until the release of the film, I was on cloud nine, carefree... I don’t think I’ll ever feel that carefree again.

æ: What was it like to work with Lambert Wilson?

Vincent: A happy experience, as with the other actors. The whole film was done very simply and in good spirits... I think we were all united by the film's subject; we were all in agreement with the ideas that it conveys.

æ: What have responses to the film been like so far?

Vincent: In France, it worked very well; the audience loved it. The press has been good. But it was still contested, not only by some reactionary newspapers (normal), but also curiously by some gay journalists who have did not support how Manu sleeps with Fina [to get his child], or were very hostile to the idea of gay parenthood (and yes, they exist too). [And there was] great reluctance in Catholic countries around us: Italy, Spain.

Now the film has been sold in over twenty countries. I think it’s been aired in Taiwan and another Asian country, but I don’t remember which; I never heard back. There were 560,000 tickets sold, which is unexpected for a first film.

æ: Could you tell us a bit about your future projects?

Vincent: I’ve finished post-production on a second film with Philippe Torreton, titled Présumé Coupable (Presumed Guilty), the story of a victim of a miscarriage of justice, adapted from a true story that has caused a huge scandal in France. It’s a very dark film, still with [the subject of] paternity in the background, and justice above all.

Comme Les Autres / Baby Love
In French with English subtitles
France, 2008, 90mins 
Rating: R21 - Mature theme
Director: Vincent Garenq
Cast: Lambert Wilson, Pilar López de Ayala, Pascal Elbé

Screenings of Comme Les Autres will be held at two different locations, each with different systems of ticketing. To get tickets for Sat 2 Oct, 9:15pm, at the Alliance Francaise, go to sistic.com.sg. To get tickets for Wed 6 Oct, 9:15pm, at Cathay Cineplex Hall 5, go to tickets.cathay.com.sg. Programmes for the French Film Festival can be downloaded from the Alliance Francaise site at alliancefrancaise.org.sg. Fridae is the official online media sponsor of the 26th French Film Festival in Singapore.