It won’t hit theaters until next year in the United States, but Alain Guiraudie‘s Stranger by the Lake is already making waves internationally. Initially premiering at Cannes Film Festival this past spring, the French helmer won the top directing prize there and Cahiers du cinéma recently named the erotic drama the best film of the year. Ahead of a January release, we’ve now got the first U.S. trailer thanks to Strand Releasing.
Following Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps), a twenty-something who arrives at the lake looking to kill some time in-between jobs, and ends up experiencing a whole lot more, our NYFF review said the film has “has a psychological and atmospheric intensity that doesn’t often make room for light comedy. (Which isn’t to say the film is never funny, but rather that the laughs are almost all underlined by urgent suspense.)” Check out the trailer below for the film also starring Christophe Paou, Patrick D’Assumçao, Jérôme Chappatte and Mathieu Vervisch.
Frank (Pierre Deladonchamps) spends his summer days hopelessly searching for companionship at a popular cruising spot on the shores of a lake in rural France. One day, he meets Michel (Christophe Paou), an attractive yet darkly mysterious man, and falls blindly in love. When a death occurs, Frank and Michel become the primary suspects, but they choose to ignore the dangers and instead continue to engage in their passionate and potentially lethal relationship. STRANGER BY THE LAKE is an erotic thriller that tests the lengths and limits of sexual desire.
Stranger By the Lake opens on January 24th, 2014.