The French TV movie You'll Get Over It is receiving a theatrical release in America not because it's stylistically daring, but because it's a high-school coming-out story, and those are still rare enough to be in demand. Julien Baumgartner plays a 17-year-old swim-team standout with a sexy girlfriend (Julia Maraval) and a secret apartment where he meets local boys for afternoon trysts. When openly gay classmate Jérémie Elkaïm accidentally outs Baumgartner, the reactions from Maraval and from Baumgartner's family and friends push him into a corner. So he makes an unexpected decision: He comes clean and decides to live out his last year of high school uncloseted.
Even more unexpected is how well this decision turns out. Baumgartner's teammates spurn him, and some of his classmates taunt him, but his parents and teachers are incredibly understanding, and even Maraval stands by him (albeit somewhat grumpily). The drama in You'll Get Over It comes when everyone's understanding curdles into frustration, as Baumgartner grapples over just how gay he wants to be.
Director Fabrice Cazeneuve and screenwriter Vincent Molina (who loaned his name to the main character in a clear indication of the story's personal meaning) have whipped up a curious item: a gay-themed film that's somewhat hostile toward gays. Baumgartner feels increasingly pressured by Elkaïm and others in the gay world to be not just openly gay, but flamingly gay, making You'll Get Over It's portrait of Queer Nation a distressingly creepy one, full of rapaciously horny opportunists.
But though its milieu is often ugly and its story fairly soft, You'll Get Over It gets by thanks to its cast. The French film industry has a knack for finding attractive, expressive young actors, and this movie is no exception. Baumgartner and Maraval are both beautiful and petulant in equal measure, capturing precisely the way teenagers can be simultaneously lively and unknowable.