User Reviews

Actually is an average gay interest movie, mother and children relationships, plus there is dead in the end. Story line about a mom (Valerie) asking her son's ex-boyfriend (Jens) to help her to looking for her missing son. Their adventure begin and finally found Simon (her son) in unexpected ways.

The reason Valerie asking Jens to help her still bother me. I mean, Simon have many relationship with other men and even women. Beside, Jens said that they are not couple anymore for to years behind.

Simple story but I'd like to say still good watching. If you need a warm story line, this one will be perfect.

"Looking for Simon" is despite the title a German, mostly German-language film from 2011, so 8 years old now approximately and one of the more recent filmmaking efforts by writer and director Jan Krüger. It runs for under 1.5 hours, so not a very long film by any means, and the most known cast member here is Corinna Harfouch, while German film buffs may also know Trystan Pütter perhaps who plays the main character in flashbacks. This is the story of a mother travelling to France in search of her son who has been missing for a week. She gets help from an ex-boyfriend of the son and this is apparently enough for people to call this a gay-themed movie. Fairly thin if you ask me. I don't call it a hetero-themed film either because there is one surprising plot twist when we find out that Simon was not only dating a girl, but close to moving in with her. Here the coincidence of them finding the video where he makes out with said woman also feels way too much honestly. Oh well, that did feel for the sake of it. Like a lot else in this movie, like the unrealistic coincidence that Harfouch's mother had a car collision with a woman they randomly run in later on and who could help them with their search. They tried to make this film about the conversations between the characters and not all about if they find Simon, but I personally did not feel impressed by the tensions and atmosphere, so for me it really all came down to the question where he is and what happened to him. If at all. I must say that the longer the film went, the less I cared about it honestly. Still the revelation at the end stayed in the mind too. But the consequences made little to no sense to me and were eventually also the reason why I gave a relatively low rating to this movie. The girl he was about to move in with did not collapse from grief? The mother well you could say she has that stay strong mentality thingey going on, but she breaks down in tears during other less devastating occasions. And the boyfriend who obviously still cared a whole lot for Simon, which we can see on several occasions and not just through the general fact that he joins in ambitiously on the search. All three of them hardly cried at all it feels. Also visually I hoped this could be a better film to be honest. France has a lot more to offer than that and the bleakness of the shore for example could have helped the film in terms of the depressing atmospheric impact it could have made. I don't think this is a film that was acted badly by any means, but the script did not do them any favors, even if the subtle approach felt right most of the time and there is a lot more under the surface for this film than you might initially think. As a whole, I give the movie a thumbs-down. It is a close call, but I think the weaknesses and moments where nothing interesting happens are more frequent than the strengths and memorable moments. Only worth seeing for huge Harfouch fans. Everybody else may want to skip the watch and go for something else instead.

Sometimes "looking for simon" reminds me of French Philippe Lioret's "je vais bien ne t'en fais pas" (=I'm all right,don't worry) ,both movies are a search , both have a harrowing denouement.

It involves a mother ,Valerie , who has misgivings about her son ,a gay doctor who left his native land for France ;she is helped by his ex-partner Jens ,and occasionally,by a nurse,Camille , who works in the same hospital that the thespian.

The more they investigate,the more their vision of the gone boy is blurred ; his personality is more and more elusive ; the director doesn't argue or judge : he does not provide facile explanations such as an over possessive mom or a jealous companion : both actors give restrained performances .

One may guess that Simon might never have come to terms with the fact of being gay ;hence his leaving for France, his planned trip to Morocco , his desire to share a flat with the nurse ; his curious relationship with a mechanic ; his addiction , all the more disturbing since Simon is a doctor. He defies any definItion.

The ending may leave the viewers asking for more explanations;but when one deals with overdose and/or suicide,the mystery remains , and it was the best denouement the film could have.

An excellent psychological drama,which shows respect for the audience : the dialog , which uses three languages (French ,German and English) ,rings true .