Cold Showers

Cold Showers (French: Douches froides) is a 2005 French drama film directed by Antony Cordier. It was a Directors' Fortnight Selection at 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of three teenagers, a girl, Vanessa, and two boys, Mickael and Clement, who face changes and problems over a period of three months as they enter adulthood. The film attracted attention on its release due to the full-frontal nudity of several young French actors.

Cold Showers
Promotional poster
Directed byAntony Cordier
Produced byPascal Caucheteux
Sébastien Lemercier
Written byAntony Cordier
Julie Peyr
StarringJohan Libéreau
Salomé Stévenin
Music byNicholas Lemercier
CinematographyNicolas Gaurin
Edited byEmmanuelle Castro
Distributed byBac Films
Release date
  • 22 May 2005 (2005-05-22)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$1.9 million
Box office$785.000[1]

Plot

Mickaël (Johan Libereau) is from a poor working class family - his father Gérard (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey) is a taxi cab driver who lost his license and then his job as a result of a police roadblock targeting drivers under the influence of alcohol. His mother Annie (Florence Thomassin) works as a cleaning woman in the high school gym: After this they have a tough time financially. Not a great student, Mickaël excels in judo and his life is focused on his sport and on his girlfriend Vanessa (Salomé Stévenin). One of Mickaël's teammates Clément (Pierre Perrier) is from a wealthy family: his father Louis Steiner (Aurélien Recoing) uses a wheelchair and his mother Mathilde (Claire Nebout) is a woman of the world and society. Louis decides to sponsor the judo team, buys them outfits, and asks Mickaël to work with Clément to perfect his technique and prepare the judo team for a French championship.

Mickaël and Clément relate well and while Mickaël is a winning player, Clément is smarter and understands the intrinsic rules of the game better. An incident occurs that forces Mickaël to take the position of a wounded team mate and in doing so he must lose eight kilos to qualify for the championship team. The struggle to lose weight (he is already in ideal physical condition) places stress on both Mickaël and his family and teammates. Mickaël and Vanessa include Clément in their camaraderie, a situation which evolves into a ménage à trois as the three have group sex in the after hours gym. Vanessa reacts as though this is the greatest physical feeling ever, Clément is smitten, and Mickaël has troubling doubts. When the three decide to try it again in a hotel room Mickaël is so conflicted that he does not join the other two, only listening to their cavorting in the bathtub feeling inferior to the smarter, wealthier Clément. But on the judo side, the team plays the championship and Mickaël's delicate sense of self worth is restored for a moment. It is the manner in which the trio of teenagers resolve their antics that closes the film.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for this film contains songs by Julie Delpy and Galt MacDermot. The score is composed by Nicolas Lemercier. The main song of the film is called "Central Park".

Awards and nominations

César Awards

  • Nominated:
    • Best First Film

Prix Louis Delluc

  • Won
    • Best First Film

Taipei International Film Festival

  • Won:
    • Grand Prize

Verona International Film Festival

  • Won:
    • Grand Prize

Marseille Film Festival

  • Won:
    • Critic Prize

French Press Golden Star

  • Won:
    • Best First Film

French Syndicate of Cinema Critics

Moulins Film Festival

La Ciotat Film Festival

References
  1. "Douches froides (2005)". Jpbox-office.com. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
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