Beauty

Skoonheid

2011 · France, South Africa · 98 min

Director: Oliver Hermanus
Cinematography: Jamie Ramsay

Awards: Queer Palm · 1 nominations

What the critics say

84 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews

Cast

Deon Lotz

What it is about

François van Heerden lives in Bloemfontein with his wife and their two adult daughters, running a timber business that gives him a comfortable and outwardly orderly life. His openly racist and homophobic views sit in stark contrast with the secret sexual encounters he has with other men. At one of his daughter's wedding receptions he meets Christian Roodt, a handsome young man from a family friend's household, and becomes fixated on him while struggling in vain to suppress what he feels.

How it was made

A co-production between France and South Africa, the film was written and directed by Oliver Hermanus and shot in Afrikaans. Deon Lotz leads the cast as François, while Charlie Keegan plays Christian. Jamie Ramsay handled the cinematography. Its psychological approach, anchored in the protagonist's point of view, relies on a restrained performance and an intimate portrait of white middle-class life in South Africa.

Reception and legacy

The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Queer Palm. Critics singled out Lotz's performance: Peter Bradshaw called it ferociously powerful yet subtle, and David Parkinson gave the film three stars out of five. South Africa submitted it as its Best Foreign Language Film entry for the Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.