Being at Home With Claude

As Minuet once mentioned to me, you have to remind yourself occasionally as you watch that Roy is just acting since his performance is so thoroughly convincing. I managed just fine to get beyond the very graphic homosexual love scene at the beginning, something I'd been hesitant to watch.

The story is poignant & painful, & for the 1st half of the film I just wanted to punch out the detective for treating Yves so roughly. But I ultimately admired him for understanding Yve's motivation for killing Claude & his life in general & not passing judgement.

If you haven't seen the movie, get those little fingers hopping over to Amuzeme.com. And I'd recommend you follow Min's advice (which I unfortunately got *after* I bought the dubbed version ;-) & get the one in French with subtitles. I figured I wouldn't want to miss anything, but in hindsight I would've gladly rewound to catch what I'd missed in order to have heard Roy's emotion-packed French. The focus is on his face for so much of the film that I found it distracting when the words didn't coincide with his lip movements. OTOH, I now realize that the dubbed version of Emilie worked just fine for me since there aren't as many close-up face shots.

A totally wondeROYful performance! But gosh, it wiped me out. :-)

Skippy

You can understand why Roy always mentions BAHWC as his finest work. I too would love to see him find a role just as challenging and freeing as an actor to express himself with after Michael. I often think how difficult it must be to stay so controlled on screen for the last 4 years. It must have been very draining. No wonder he just went home and hung around the farmhouse... he needed a major recharge to keep going I bet..

Minuet

BAHWC is one of his best movies!! And the first Roy movie I ever bought.

I (unknowingly) bought it in French, not even with subtitles. I was so disappointed when it came because I don't understand a word of French. But I thought I'd just watch a little of it to see what it was like. I sat and watched the whole movie, totally mesmerized by Roy's performance. I didn't need to understand French to understand what was happening to Yves. Roy just puts everything out there when he gets a role like that, he BECOMES the character, he doesn't just play the part. Cap Tourmente is the same.

Anyway, after watching BAHWC I became a true Roy fan, where before I was a Michael fan

Nicole

This was the first movie I saw that featured Roy in a non Michael capacity. I was unsure what to expect but I was absolutely blown away to say the least.

The opening scene was a hugely frank depiction of homosexual sex and watching it with my mother in the same room giving me the Oh my God, what is wrong with my child look was a bit uncomfortable so I suggest you watch it alone if you have slightly homophobic friends and family.

The story gets a bit confusing at a point if you look at Yves and his obvious love for the man whom he killed, the jealousy when he hears that Claude had a girlfriend, the need for validation of Claude’s feelings in the diary that he kept. It almost feels as if Yves is trying to find the answer to the seemingly senseless murder at the same time that the detective is leaving the audience guessing until that final beautiful moment when the truth is revealed.

The use of black and white for the flash back sequences was inspired if you contrast it to the yellowish tones of the judge’s quartets.

I also loved the movement of the part in the judge’s quarters. Yves moving like a caged animal and the detective following him around, chasing him you could say. Loved that. Loved the claustrophobic feeling that Roy was able to bring across the screen to me.

The interaction between him and the detective (they were together in Jesus of Montreal too I believe) was incredible.

Roy was so deliciously not Michael in this film that this just fuelled me to see even more of his non Michael movies. Seeing him as an emotional entity, openly emotional without that Michael veil that he so expertly cast was a wonderful experience. I recommend this to the absolute extreme.

One question though. What the heck was Guy holding over his mouth? That I just couldn’t get.

Liana

Not paying attention to the words, you see just the emotion and power that Roy put into that role. It drained me, I was actually tired when the movie ended. Roy was the exact opposite of Michael. He moved around the room constantly, he used his whole body when he talked. It was a revelation to me about all the energy and emotion that Roy was suppressing to play Michael.

Of course I immediately bought J'en Suis. Another revelation, Roy does comedy!!! And he does it well!!!

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Being at Home with Claude

In French, with English subtitles (1992)

Yves: "I wasn't stoned. It was worse than that. I was in love."

This movie is about a gay prostitute named Yves (Roy Dupuis), and the murder of his lover, Claude.

I have now seen this movie twice, and have come to the conclusion that the first half of it is outright bad. It consists almost entirely of Yves and a police inspector (Jacques Godin) stomping around and yelling at each other. We don't know how they got into the room they are in (it's not a police station) or why they're talking instead of proceeding with an arrest. Nothing makes much sense, and the rhythm of the acting feels off.

But all the opening scenes really do is set up the second half of the movie. And the second half is actually pretty good. After a couple of interesting flashbacks, Yves finally calms down and starts talking about his relationship with Claude, and what happened between them. Roy Dupuis gives us a powerful and subtle performance. He's really wonderful here.

How he looks and what he wears is also fascinating, because he doesn't look much like he has in other roles. His clothes and his manner work for the character.

I've seen two versions of this movie -- (1) in French with English subtitles, and (2) dubbed in English. And I can state categorically that there is a huge difference: I think the French version with subtitles is much, much better. Nearly all of this movie is dialogue, and the emotion and impact is all in the words. It's just too intimate a movie for dubbing. Plus, even though Roy dubs himself and does it well, the inspector is poorly dubbed, and some of the words that the translator chose just do not work.

It's difficult to talk much about this movie without giving away the ending. Let me just say that it was not what I expected.

Billie