a somewhat schematic script you can almost see the box be tick a each issue be deal with do not ultimately detract from a fine achievement . the story surround the succumbing to hiv aid by a life love young man at the time when the world be take by surprise by the ferocity of the hitherto unknown virus . the various reaction bewilderment and fear and panic and hatred and self loathe and guilt and determination and courage and loss and grief and and of course and love be all chart in the five central character . there can be little argument and i would have think and concern the excellence of michel blanc performance while nor of the puzzle awfulness of lorenzo balducci whyever be this italian actor cast a an american who have be bring up in australia . julie depardieu character be the least developed of the central quintet but nevertheless the actress manages and a ever and to make a fully round contribution . emanuelle beart strike feature and dynamic screen presence make it difficult to assess her a an actress . in the end she do not convince me she be any kind of writer and but she be entirely convince a a mother with ambivalence to her baby . the scene where her character talk to her own mother ( the late maia simon and in a brief but noteworthy final performance ) about the difficulty surround her own birth be one of the most tender in the film . johan libéreau be touch a the doomed manu and flesh out what seem to me to be a somewhat idealised character unreflective but sensitive and foolhardy yet vulnerable . but the film ultimately belong to sami bouajila a the policeman who find himself in the most unexpected of relationship . it by far the most complex role and also and perhaps for that very reason and the most believable . bouajila embrace the contradiction and possibly realise and a heath ledger prove so memorably in brokeback mountain and that struggle with sexuality can produce compelling drama . le temoins be well edit and photograph and and on the whole and well direct . the influence of truffaut jules et jim be all pervading and but it none the worse for that . the film big advantage be that it tackle it subject in an entirely unsentimental way represent the same script make in hollywood would undoubtedly turn into something unspeakably gooey the memory of philadelphia and with which it could all too easily be compare and make me shudder . le temoins be way and way above that .