Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Gerontophilia is about a young man who gets a job at a nursing home and comes to accept his sexual desire for older men.
While working as a lifeguard at a pool where the elderly swim and exercise, Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) must perform CPR on an old man. While breathing into the man’s mouth, he gets a noticeable erection. Because of the incident, he must find new employment.
Confused by his attraction to older men, Lake hides his sexual desires from his girlfriend, Désirée (Katie Boland). And when Lake gets a new job at a nursing home, he begins paying attention to the older residents. It’s not long before he finds himself attracted to Melvin Peabody (Walter Borden), who is eighty-one. Lake soon realizes that he needs to come to terms with his sexual identity as Désirée begins to suspect that Lake might be gay.
Some Thoughts:
Gerontophilia is a sweet, light romantic drama with decent acting and camerawork. Director Bruce LaBruce treats the subject matter–a romance between an eighteen-year-old and an eighty-one-year-old–seriously. The film does have some light humor, but it’s never at the expense of the subject.
The acting isn’t the best, but it never takes you out of the story. Borden does a great job delivering many of the jokes with a deadpan whit that makes it sound more as an aside than a joke. The humor also fits with Melvin, who often seems as if he’s simply going along with whatever Lake throws at him.
Where the movie falls short is dealing with Melvin’s health. In the beginning Melvin leaves the nursing home and has to be brought back by Lake and Nurse Baptiste (Yardly Kavanagh). Melvin appears disoriented, like he may have early onset Alzheimer’s, but there is no trace of cognitive decline after the incident. Not only that, but Lake is never informed about Melvin’s health nor the medications he’s on, which seems odd since he’s also caring for him. This doesn’t ruin the movie, but why show Melvin being disoriented if it’s not part of the story?
There are other aspects of the film that stretch believability, such as Lake not getting reprimanded after being found partially clothed and drunk with Melvin. There’s another scene when Lake easily takes Melvin out of the nursing home to go on a road trip. I don’t want to give anything away, so that’s all I’ll say about it. While the film is enjoyable enough to disregard these foibles, I have to mention them.
The Final Verdict:
Gerontophilia is an enjoyable film that treats the topic of an extreme May – December romance with respect. While some aspects of the story stretch the boundary of believability, the relationship between an eighteen-year-old and an eighty-year-old feels honest and sincere.
