Gerontophilia

Gerontophilia (2014)

Love is different for everyone, and sometimes we find it in people we might not be expecting.  But what if that person is 60 years your senior?

Synopsis: Lake is in a straight relationship with Desiree but finds himself becoming attracted to men at the pool. When he cannot control his desires any longer, he starts working at an adult home and starts a relationship with a much older man.

Age in relationships has been a topic of open discussion for many years.  People in my family have had or are in relationships with people who are not exactly in their immediate age range.  That being said, none of them have a 60 year age gap.

That’s what this film explores.  Not only is it not seen often, but it’s also a bit taboo in our society.  When we see a very young woman with a much older man, what is the first thing we think?  She’s after his money?  Right or wrong, we can see that it’s not generally a typical relationship.

So I have to applaud this film for its effort to talk about an issue that is uncommon.  I don’t know of any other films offhand that have had this discussion, and there may be relationships out there that we don’t know about because they are so under the radar.

However, I feel like Gerontophilia borders on treating this more like a fetish than a relationship.  I certainly understand that people have many different fetishes and that’s fine.  But I would like to have seen more about the connection the two main characters have, and more about them that makes this relationship work for them.

From certain scenes, it does appear they’ve bonded.  There’s even jealousy that would indicate this is more than a fling.  And indeed, their relationship lasts longer than a quick hookup and they share experiences.  But what is it that makes them transcends the boundaries and allows them to connect at such an intimate level?

I’ll admit I let myself view this film from a skewed angle left by a single look from Lake (the main character) that happens late in the movie.  I felt that it made him look almost predatory, and I concede that gave me an ick factor.

This could also be because I don’t feel like I ever got to know Lake as much as I would have expected in a film like this.  I’m trying to see him in more dimensions in order to understand this better, but the movie didn’t develop him in that way enough.  And there is another scene that made me wonder how much likeability I want to assign him.

I saw this film at the Bloomington Pride Film Festival, and it was a late night feature.  (It actually ended up being much later than expected!)  So perhaps my review is skewed by my tired state.

Trailer on YouTube

Availability:
TLA: DVD (not yet released)
Amazon: DVD