All Yours, out May 26 on DVD, is a frisky romance about Lucas (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), a young man from Argentina who meets the heavyset Belgium baker, Henry (Jean-Michel Balthazar), on an online dating site. Henry flies the scruffy Latin youth to his village to come live and bake with Henry. However, upon arrival, Lucas is visibly uncomfortable with both the sleeping and working arrangements.
Writer/director David Lambert’s (Beyond the Walls) film has Lucas and Henry navigating their relationship, which is further complicated when Lucas finds himself attracted to Audrey (Monia Chokri), Henry’s other employee. All Yours is a vivid, engrossing character study, complete with some graphic sex scenes, opera, and plenty of baking.
Lambert spoke via Skype with me for the San Francisco Bay Times about his fine film.
Gary M. Kramer: How did you come up with the story and the characters?
David Lambert: When I saw prostitutes and sex worker characters in film, I didn’t see anything relevant or close to life. There’s a criminalization of the client or prostitutes in movies. My first idea was to make a film about a very specific client and sex worker, without criminalizing them or any aspect of this strange relationship. My second intention was: How you deal with all this Internet stuff; how people are meeting on the Internet one way, and how it is different when they meet in real life. The [characters] have to learn how to make a life together.
Gary M. Kramer: What struck me specifically was all of the touching and body language the characters employed. A visually powerful scene has Lucas massaging Henry. It’s physically tender, but the relationship between the men was emotionally strained.
David Lambert: I put actors in situations where they don’t need a lot of dialogue to express themselves. When I can replace words with a look or gesture, I do it. I’m resisting the talkative French cinema in my Belgian cinema. I try to observe the characters and their bodies in space. Concerning Lucas, the massage scene is something he was not obliged to do, but he is a survival character. It’s instinctive. He is not able to do anything else. He has such poor self-confidence to be involved with women that he can only have sex with guys. A “non-profit” relationship [e.g., sex without payment, or for love] is something he can’t deal with. He is used to exploiting gay love and misery. When he has to express a real feeling with a woman or connect his own brain, heart, and dick, Lucas is a mess. He’s not able to do that.
Gary M. Kramer: How did you work with the actors on their roles?
David Lambert: I always write my characters like they all have a second or third chance. They are trying to do their best with their emotions and the situation. They are not mean; we try to get the best qualities. This is life. They are hurting each other, and themselves, but they are trying the best they can.
Gary M. Kramer: What can you say about creating the graphic sex scenes on the videos, in the sex club and with Lucas’ rent boy activities?
David Lambert: When I shot Beyond the Walls, I decided to be very sexual, but never explicit. You don’t see anything—fetish, blow jobs, or f—ing. It was a decision from the start. When I was shooting Beyond the Walls, I had All Yours in mind, and I knew it would be the opposite and very explicit. Why is this film explicit? If you want to portray a character like Lucas, who is considering himself as a “dick” at least in the first part of the movie, having his life revolve around his dick, you have to show his dick. If you don’t show the dick of a character like this, you are avoiding the subject and not respecting the character. It’s a necessity for this kind of character, a male prostitute. The film is about a web cam image of a very sexual image [an erection] that becomes a complete human. He’s training himself to become someone complete, not just a “dick.”
Gary M. Kramer: How do you think these characters are representational of the LGBT community?
David Lambert: I never try to represent the community. I am trying to portray strong characters in strong stories and show things that we don’t see usually in cinema. As far as the LGBT community, we are mature enough and experienced enough to deal with issues that are not especially as pleasant as we’d like them to be. Gay dating websites are part of gay life. It’s like how Russian lady sites are part of straight life; it’s the same story. They end up in a crazy village with crazy man.
© 2015 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer
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