The Witnesses is a mature film by André Téchiné about a time of 80s sexual recklessness before the onset of AIDS and how its advent irrevocably alters the lives of four friends.

New in Paris young buck Manu (Johan Libéreau) and his aspiring opera singer sister Julie (Julie Depardieu) are living in a sleazy hotel that doubles up as a brothel. Out cruising one night Manu picks up Adrien (Michel Blanc) who’s a doctor. They become inseparable but don’t consummate the relationship.

The much older doctor is in love with the beautiful youngster, but Manu is attracted to Mehdi (Sami Bouajila), the husband of Adrien’s friend Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart). Mehdi and Sarah have a new baby and an open relationship.

When the four holiday in the French Riviera Mehdi saves Manu from drowning and gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This is the catalyst for the affair that follows.

Adrien can’t contain his hurt and jealousy, but when Manu is stricken with a mysterious illness cares for his ailing friend.

The quartet’s carefree camaraderie is over and each takes the news in differing ways. Mehdi fears Manu may have passed the virus on to him and is tested, while Sarah, normally unphased by her husband’s affairs, becomes depressed and angry. Adrien throws himself into AIDS research and launches a charity. Ignorance surrounding the disease and how it’s contracted is only briefly focused on.

Apart from Manu, whose swift demise never lurches into self-pitying territory, the other three are mildly dislikeable characters, which makes them all the more realistic and fascinating to watch. By her confession Sarah is spoilt and arrogant, finding it difficult coping with motherhood. Her vice detective husband dotes on their child, but has dubious loyalties when it comes to the gay lifestyle. The honorable and lonely Adrien is full of pious indignance and moral certainty.

The Witnesses is an unsensational film about a life destroyed at the height of its happiness and Téchiné is matter of fact about the sex scenes, gay and straight. He also highlights the plight of the middle-aged, portly gay man who can barely get free sex let alone a relationship.

As much as The Witnesses looks at the advent of AIDS from a historical perspective, it’s a film about the nature of relationships and how they evolve. Without undervaluing the enormity of his main subject Téchiné is keen to insist that life goes on.

The Witnesses (Les Temoines) opens in the UK on the 19 October 2007

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