Felix the cad

>> A carefree, slightly sociopathic road trip across France in Funny Felix

by JOANNE LATIMER

Feel like a sunny European film to ward off winter? Funny Felix allows you to forget about the wind-chill factor and pretend you're on a road trip across France. Your travelling companion is a gay hottie named Felix. He has a childlike knack for enjoying himself that could enliven a trip down the 401, let alone the gorgeous French countryside.

Felix is actually travelling by foot, carrying only a kite and his AIDS medication. After getting laid off from his job on a boat--a ferry, no less--he leaves Dieppe to find his long-lost father in Marseilles. It's a surprising move, since a merry guy like Felix doesn't seem plagued by longing and introspection. But he goes, nonetheless, fuelled by the melodrama of his favourite soap opera, The Lap of Luxury.

Although it's hard to buy Felix's yearning to find his father, it's easy to believe that he's up for an adventure. He takes a brief leave of absence from his fabulous boyfriend, Daniel, then heads off to the clinic to get his AIDS meds. What happens next just might be the first parody of people talking about their AIDS cocktails. Humorous banter ensues as people in the waiting room compare notes on tri-therapy cocktails, learning that penta-therapy could be in their futures. Felix is nonplussed by the pills, but others are less thrilled about the daily regime. It's a great scene and that has a lot to do with directors Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel's decision to play it matter-of-fact.

After that, the directors employ a clunky device that nearly ruins the film. They use subtitles, like "My Little Brother" and "My Grandmother" to help us categorize people Felix meets along his journey. It's such an artless tactic that it smells like something a film distributor devised after the fact, to make the film more accessible (read: dumbed down).

Before leaving town, Felix witnesses a hate crime, which highlights his Arab heritage. There's low-level tension throughout the film about racism in France, running alongside some high-voltage sexual tension between Felix and all of his travelling companions. Yeah, he's charming and like most charming, flirty people, he's allowed to indulge his impulses with impunity. The sheer likeability of actor Sami Bouajila carries the film, which banks on his guiltless joie de vivre.

For a road movie, some of the best scenes happen inside. The domestic moments between Felix and Daniel are touching and funny, with running gags about Felix's addiction to his soap opera. Because Felix's entanglements with strangers become intimate so quickly, it raises the possibility that he's a gay, French Ted Bundy. But he's a harmless sociopath, we learn, who's simply happy to go fly his kite.

Funny Felix opens Friday, Jan. 19 at Cinéma du Parc