Stranger by the Lake (L'inconnu du lac) (2013)

Drama, Thriller

Director: Alain Guiraudie
Writer: Alain Guiraudie
Starring: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte

"Puts the cock back in Hitchcock"

Probably the "gayest" (and we don't mean that in the derogatory way) film you will see, but definitely one that doesn't deserve to be labeled as just that.

Franck is a handsome man in his thirties that regularly visits a lakeside beach in rural France that's a discrete pickup spot for gay men. There, he falls in love with Michel, a mysterious and very attractive mustached Tom Selleck lookalike, and often visits the nearby bushes, where all the lake's regulars go to consummate their pickups, with him. After a body is discovered in the lake, the two lovers become primary suspects of the investigation.

With all its plot set in a single picturesque location, with a complete lack of musical score, the film, often described as a brilliant Hitchcockian murder story, is a unique erotic thriller of seduction and sexual obsession that builds to an unforgettable and terrifying climax.

Be warned of an abundance of full frontal nudity of the film's all-male cast (as a critic said, "the whole of the clothing in Stranger by the Lake would scarcely fill up one drawer") and a considerable amount of explicit man-on-man sex scenes.

Plot summary from IMDb: Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel. An attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this, but wants to live out his passion anyway.

Awards: 16 wins & 26 nominations.
Runtime: 97 min
UNRAT