During a drunken evening with friends in a Brussels wine bar, Paulo (Matila Malliarakis) and bartender Ilir (Guillaume Gouix) make heavy eye contact and end up in bed together, though inebriation prevents anything sexual from occurring. Paulo is in a cohabiting heterosexual relationship with Anka (Melissa Desormeaux Poulin), whose prickly reaction when he returns home the next day indicates that these forays are nothing new.

In a film in which all the characters have their unsympathetic sides, this section cements the sense of Paulo as both weak and manipulative, unable to be an independent person and instinctively skilled at using his lost-puppy charms to get someone else to look after him. A stocky guy from an Albanian family, Ilir plays bass in a band, while the more delicate Paulo is a pianist, accompanying silent film screenings at the cinematheque. In terms of the stereotypical gay top/bottom breakdown, their job descriptions are clear, yet Lambert wryly has them arm-wrestle for position. From the start, Paulo has his foot on the accelerator, talking of love with Ilir, who very soon is seduced into total commitment.

Starring Matila Malliarakis, Guillaume Gouix, Melissa Desormeaux Poulin, David Salles

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