Three Dancing Slaves (2005)

The Village Voice 8 of 10
Like so many films that target a gay male audience, Three Dancing Slaves transpires in an abstract parallel universe where half the population has mysteriously disappeared and the other half works out a lot and often goes unclothed. The only female presence to speak of in French actor-turned-director Gael Morel's latest feature is the dead mother of the titular fraternal trio...Morel is obviously up on his gay art films: Fran Ozon's influence is palpable, not least in the matter-of-fact sexuality and evocative use of water; the meat factory pointedly echoes the abattoir in Fassbinder's In a Year of 13 Moons. Most of all, the director, who has appeared in several Techine films, strives to emulate his mentor's suggestive use of ellipses and poetic detail. But the unpredictable emotional turmoil that animates Techine's work is almost entirely missing. Morel spells out his blood-ties theme in an archly symbolic shot of the three brothers sleeping in the nude, limbs entwined, watched over by their helpless father. The actors make the most of their severely underwritten roles...For those so inclined, this lulling, banal, and rather pleasant film cultivates a mood of zone-out voyeurism. In the absence of a larger purpose, Morel is content to ogle, perhaps rightly assuming that his viewers will be too. - Dennis Lim
 
FilmCritic.com 7 of 10
The fast-moving story of a trio of tormented French brothers, Three Dancing Slaves is a mostly depressing yet ultimately uplifting peek inside a family that's falling apart fast...The death of the family matriarch, a woman who clearly had the ability to keep her trouble-prone sons in check, has sent oldest adult son Christophe (Stephane Rideau), middle son Marc (Nicolas Cazale), and teenage son Olivier (Thomas Dumerchez) reeling. As the film opens on a chapter devoted to Marc (the film has one section for each brother), Christophe is in jail, Marc is hanging around with the local drug dealers, and young Olivier is most likely to be found talking to photograph of his dead mother...Morel's overlapping and hopscotch plotting keeps us guessing and filling in crucial blanks, just as we would if we were trying in real life to figure out what was going on with that strange family down the street. It's an effective technique and one that survives the film's stranger agendas, not only the shaving obsession but also a light overlay of incest indicated by a scene in which the three brothers sleep together naked, limbs intertwined. Dad observes this and merely rolls his eyes and walks away. Perhaps Morel is simply showing the universal truth that all brothers have love/hate relationships. Perhaps he's hinting at more. Either way, this France is full-frontal. - Don Willmott