Auf der Suche (German) [Looking For Simon]

I read somewhere online that this is a thriller but of a different kind. I can't disagree more. This is nowhere close to being a thriller. It is a tale of a mother looking for her son and in the process discovering things about him, his friends and even her own relationship with her son. This film ultimately ends up being a soul search rather than a search for an actual person. Not sure how many actually this kind of genre in the gay cinema but nevertheless it was a decent viewing.

Simon has been missing for only a week but it is enough to get his mother Valerie worried. She has travelled from Germany to South France and has also called her son's ex boyfriend Jens to help her out in searching for her son. High-strung and fearing the worse, Valerie has barely accepted her son’s gayness and having his former boyfriend around only adds to her stress. Jens has his own mixed feelings for his ex. He takes excursions in search of nightly casual sex where he encounters an Arab boy who recently had an affair with Simon. Through him they find out that Simon probably had booked a trip to Morocco with the Arab guy but did not go. The search is leading nowhere. After a week, Simon's body is found in an empty apartment, death by drug overdose.

Both Valerie and Jens are essentially sketchy figures, simply caught up in the search for Simon in the atmospheric French port city and revealing little about themselves. It is very hard to gauge where each of them is coming from. It doesn't really look like they were really interested in searching for him. The drama here is all in Valerie’s head – and her stubborn insistence that something might have happened to her son is a less-than-subtle reminder that he might not be missing, but she surely misses him. Obviously not content with the fact that her son is gay, she is trying to cope with and understand his homosexuality. The actors have played their part well but there were lot of questions unanswered in the film. The film was supposed to solve mystery and give answers but when the film ends you are left with more questions.

It is not bad but nothing great about it at the same time. It is strictly alright. (4.5/10)