10/09/2021 - VENICE 2021: Gianluca Matarrese’s documentary chronicles the relocation of a Parisian BDSM master, giving rise to many memories and stories to be told

Gianluca Matarrese lays himself bare – quite literally, in the opening scenes of his film – to talk about his friend/lover Bernard, but also himself, in The Last Chapter [+see also:
trailer
interview: Gianluca Matarrese
film profile], a documentary chosen as the closing film of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week which chronicles the year in which the 40-year-old director dated and filmed, in Paris, 63-year-old Bernard Guyonnet, with whom he enjoyed an on-off sexual relationship, which became an affectionate friendship.

But what’s so special about Bernard – who organised holidays for elderly people for a living – that a director would want to make a film about him? Nothing, if having things to talk about isn’t enough to make you special: he came through the dark years of AIDS unscathed, years which decimated friendships and loves, he welcomed ten thousand men into his bed, he was adopted as a child without ever getting the chance to meet his real parents, he’s a homosexual man who was never fully understood by his adoptive mother and father, and he boasts the ability to express all of this eloquently, without any filter or shame, describing moments of suffering, regret and joy by way of highly vivid memories. Bernard has only just retired when he decides to move house and change his life. From drawers and wardrobes, various objects, thousands of perfectly catalogued photos, writings and Limoges porcelain all spring forth. And each of these items harbours a memory. Should he keep it or burn it? In the meantime, he decides to reminisce. Bernard’s savage nights were and still are made up of black leather, chains, handcuffs, whips and hoods, because he happens to be an expert in BDSM, specifically the “dominant” role. It’s his way of giving and receiving pleasure: “men come to be whipped in order to feel valued”, he explains to Gianluca. “Hardcore sexual acts really bring out your partner’s psychology, more so than you’d imagine”. Old wounds from the horrible AIDS-related deaths of his two great loves, Christian and Ider, re-open. There’s also room for grittier yet entertaining episodes, including the “accidents” which can arise while using a dildo, or sex in Père-Lachaise cemetery’s chapels of rest. Matarrese follows Bernard as he reflects upon life and death, letting the camera wander, like a curious eye, through the secret world of an ordinary man. And he follows him into nightclubs to meet friends, in his relocation, in the transportation of his precious Peugeot 404 dating back to the Sixties, in his new apartment and in the search for his black cat which has run off. Bernard acts tough, but he’s emotional in the end when he finds his cat: he was afraid he’d lost another loved one. “You’re my only sentimental adventure”, he confesses to the director. But life goes on, there are other films to be made, and among the acknowledgements featured in the closing titles, Matarrese includes the mention “my therapist”.

Born in Turin, Gianluca Matarrese moved to Paris in 2002 to continue his film and theatre studies. He directed a sitcom for the French OCS channels while in France and served as a segment producer on twenty or so TV entertainment programmes for various French networks. After making two short fiction films, he directed his first documentary feature Everything Must Go, which won the award for Best Italian Doc at the Turin Film Festival 2019.

The Last Chapter is produced by Italy’s Altara Film in co-production with French firm Bocalupo Films.

(Translated from Italian)