ALL FOR ONE

They are hardly officers and gentlemen, but 19-year-old best pals Nicolas and Thierry have attained a certain comfort level as lowly army recruits near their provincial hometown, half-heartedly participating the training exercises and wholeheartedly chasing civilian girls. Then the word comes down that the military base will be closed down in six months. Rejected from re-enlisting, Nicolas and Thierry are on their own, unqualified for any of the dwindling number of jobs offered and unwilling to move back in with their stifling families. The undynamic duo retreat for the summer to a seaside campground where Nicolas, easygoing but emotionally immature, strikes up a romance with a pretty single mother, Fran?oise. Thierry, meanwhile, has seen the future – and it is not work. Feeling cheated by life, he grows sullen and dangerously temperamental as Fran?oise and her daughter take all the attention of the only buddy he has. Where did these restless young men go wrong? Understated yet eloquent, ALL FOR ONE offers no easy answers or solutions to its antiheroes' malaise, but filmmaker Bruno Bontzolakis earns his stripes by rendering a first-rate psychological drama of friendship, alienation, ennui, and obsession that you will not soon forget. (In French with English subtitles)