David's Birthday
2009 • 106 minutes
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About this movie
"A sexy, over-the-top melodrama set against the operatic score of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. A happily married man finds himself sexually attracted to his friend's ravishingly handsome son. Death in Venice meets Lolita as if directed by Ken Russell!
A pitch perfect and beguiling ode to the all-encompassing pull of desire, David's Birthday stands out as an example of gay European cinema at its most potent. Two married middle-aged couples head out to the stunning Italian coast for an ideal holiday in the sun. With both Diego and Shanny, and Matteo and Francesca’s relationship seemingly solid and unflappable, the group of friends settle in for a typically serene beach holiday. But when Diego and Shanny‘s young buff son David arrives, it becomes quickly evident that it is not just the young girls on the beach who are drawn to his Adonis-like beauty. When Matteo finds he too is increasingly struggling to keep his desire under wraps, it becomes clear that things are inevitably heading down an increasingly dangerous path. Pulsating with a raw eroticism (David’s sexuality steams up the screen), David’s Birthday expertly weaves its way toward an operatic crescendo bound to be the talked about for some time."
Quoting Adam Silver from the 2010 Philadelphia Qfest site.
A pitch perfect and beguiling ode to the all-encompassing pull of desire, David's Birthday stands out as an example of gay European cinema at its most potent. Two married middle-aged couples head out to the stunning Italian coast for an ideal holiday in the sun. With both Diego and Shanny, and Matteo and Francesca’s relationship seemingly solid and unflappable, the group of friends settle in for a typically serene beach holiday. But when Diego and Shanny‘s young buff son David arrives, it becomes quickly evident that it is not just the young girls on the beach who are drawn to his Adonis-like beauty. When Matteo finds he too is increasingly struggling to keep his desire under wraps, it becomes clear that things are inevitably heading down an increasingly dangerous path. Pulsating with a raw eroticism (David’s sexuality steams up the screen), David’s Birthday expertly weaves its way toward an operatic crescendo bound to be the talked about for some time."
Quoting Adam Silver from the 2010 Philadelphia Qfest site.