"Clément" is about the erotic relationship between a 13-year-old boy and a 30-something-year-old woman who has a live-in boyfriend and a lover. This relationship is initiated by the boy, Clément, who falls in love with the Godmother of one of his friends.
She, Marion, is at first reluctant, then becomes curious and finally gives in to Clément's wish to spend a weekend together. Here a sexual relationship begins, whose character is not clear at first. When Marion caresses the boy's body and moves toward his genitals, he flees and locks himself in the bathroom, but the next night he stays. We still are not sure whether his flight the previous night was the shyness of the first time or had other reasons.
As the relationship evolves, Marion becomes more and more obsessed with Clément. The boy instinctively realizes that and starts to make bolder demands while at the same time becoming more independent. Finally, he wants to enlarge the distance between himself and Marion. Yet she has become so addicted that she does not allow that. She even forces him into her car and tries to perform oral sex on him, which he - after several unsuccessful attempts finally - can prevent.
Clément eventually manages to dissolve the relationship again. In the end, he tears up a final letter from Marion, turns to the camera and looks the viewers straight in the eye. Then his hand blocks the view.
Seen in retrospect, it becomes clear that the movie is about child molestation and abuse. Clément's initial interest in Marion was the falling in love of puberty, which is better served by respectful acknowledgment and tender attention than by full-fledged sexual activity.
As the plot unfolds, it becomes clear that Marion is completely immature and irresponsible and in fact abuses Clément's tender affection for selfish reasons. His flight to the bathroom was not shyness but self-protection out of which he was then cheated.
This was certainly not a game for Clément, it was his first love that was misunderstood and exploited; in the process, he was robbed of his adolescence. That he was able to finally end this relationship seems almost miraculous.
Clément's intense look into the lens before shutting viewers out, asks them how far they have become voyeurs to this journey by watching the movie.
Leave a Reply