aGLIFF Reviews

Before I Forget

Life is winding down for Pierre, a gay French hustler who is 60-ish and HIV-positive. This remarkable film, in which Nolot stars as well as having written and directed, is a sharp-eyed look at aging that cuts across the boundaries of place and sexual orientation, while at the same time being a very specific look at what it's like to grow old within Pierre's particular subculture. An old whore who has no regrets regarding his past ("Apart from sun, cock, and bars, nothing much interested me," he says, reflecting on his youth), Pierre now finds himself in the reverse position: He is the one paying for sex. We learn some biographical details from conversations with his friends, conversations that often revolve around the going price for prostitutes and various techniques for protecting inheritances bequeathed by older, deceased lovers from the hands of greedy relatives. Before I Forget is a dark story of decline but one that is utterly free of self-delusion.