Product Details

• Actors: Jean-Paul Dubois, Jacques Nolot, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Marc Rioufol, Bastein d'Asnieres
• Directors: Jacques Nolot
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Strand Releasing
• DVD Release Date: September 2, 2008
• Run Time: 108 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001B94K3M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,144 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Before I Forget" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Strand Releasing Release Date: 09/02/2008 Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Ur

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thankfully Unromantic View of Aging & Sex, but Too Much of the Same., September 13, 2008

By 

mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Before I Forget (DVD)

Jacques Nolot wrote, directed, and stars in "Before I Forget", a frank look at the somber realities of aging for a gay Parisian man entering his twilight years. Pierre Pruez (Jacques Nolot) is 60 years old, having spent most of his life parlaying his good looks into income from older men. Now his patron of 35 years is dead, and it is Pierre who pays young men for sex. Swindled out of his inheritance, no longer desirable, with declining health from 24 years of HIV infection, Pierre visits old friends and young acquaintances to talk about men, money, life as it was and gripe about how it is now, as Pierre considers what exactly he is going to do and be a this point in his life.

I appreciate the unromantic view of aging and of the gay lifestyle. The men of "Before I Forget" are not interested in a same-sex version of bourgeois marriage. This is a relief after decades of the American media portraying gay men as innocuous and sexless to make them non-threatening to the middle class. As a woman, I empathize with Pierre's waning looks and desirability that translate into a loss of freedom and power with age. But Pierre is an idle, neurotic man whose friends have gotten too old, lovers gotten too expensive, and things are only going to get worse. The trouble is that we get the point quickly, and this film plods on for an hour and 40 minutes. Too much wallowing for too long.

The DVD (Strand Releasing 2008): The film is in French with English subtitles that cannot be turned off. The only bonus feature is a theatrical trailer (2 min), also subtitled.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A different perspective on aging, January 2, 2009

By 

Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Before I Forget (DVD)

"Before I Forget" is a tough film to sit through. It is the unblinking chronicle of a 60-year gay man, Pierre Pruez, who has lived off his looks for many years and has reached the point of life where that is no longer possible. He also deals on a daily basis with the serious problems of HIV infection, loneliness and boredom. Because the filmmaker takes the viewer at length through the protagonist's daily life and routines to emphasize their present dreary states, the film often moves at a snail's pace. There is no possible redemption on offer here. Indeed, Pruez is reduced to streetwalking in drag in the film's final frames.

"Before I Forget" is unmistakably French in outlook and attitude (and language) and those are virtues, in my opinion. Interesting film, but not recommended for the depressed or morally squeamish.

4.0 out of 5 stars Bleak, devestating depiction of growing old from a gay perspective, July 20, 2011

By 

Wolfsegg - See all my reviews

This review is from: Before I Forget (DVD)

In gay culture, the ultimate commodity is physical desirability. Once that disappears, a gay man essentially becomes invisible. This film, from one of the masters of French Queer cinema, explores the decline of a former hustler who struggles to cope with disease, deceit, and old age. Brutally honest and unflinching in its depiction of the perils of becoming unattractive in a culture that prizes physical attractiveness above all else.