Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)

BANG GANG (A MODERN LOVE STORY) (France/IFI/98mins)
Directed by Eva Husson. Starring Finnegan Oldfield, Marilyn Lima, Lorenzo Lefébvre, Daisy Broom, Fred Hotier, Manuel Husson, Olivia Lancelot.
THE PLOT: It’s a summer of 69s for a bunch of young French teenagers, who turn a free house into a den of sex orgies, as George sleeps with Alex, and Laetitia (Lima) sleeps with Alex, and George sleeps with Gabriel. In the heat of all the lust, jealousy and shrugs, Laetitia finds herself become a porn site hit, her first flush of sex turning another shade of depressing gay when she discovers that, whilst the rest of the gang have been busy catching various sexual diseases, she’s managed to contract the deadliest sexual disease of all – pregnancy.
THE VERDICT: Revolution is in the air for a bunch of French teenagers over one long, hot summer, but, given their relatively bourgeois lives, it’s sexual rather than political upheaving that they’re interested in. Modern love, after all, is warped somewhat by a culture where sexual promiscuity and nudity are seen as potent tools on social media, and an ever-increasing mainstream path to stardom. Or, at the very least, notoriety.
Larry Clark’s ‘Kids’ given a mildly modern twist, and some impeccable French taste – on-screen nudity just seems classier with subtitles – ‘Gang Bang’ may wear its perfectly-pert arse on its sleeve, but it still feels like indie porn, all air-brushed and aimless. Which, of course, may be all about reflecting the wide-eyed, narrow-minded teenager perspective, but this is still just arse for art’s sake.
RATING: 2/5
Review by Paul Byrne