Promises Exchanged at Midnight

Les Amitiés Particulières Chapter 5

Les Amitiés Particulières Chapter 4

 Note: It is my theory that most of the people in those social clubs during the 1920s-30s were completely drunk all the time, just like in Jeeves and Wooster (I hardly ever see Bertie without some alcoholic beverage in his hands). My theory is probably utter rubbish, but I thought it would be fun to add in.

Les Amitiés Particulières Chapter 3

Les Amitiés Particulières by Roger Peyrefitte

I was so happy to have found this book, as it is out of print in English and therefore very hard to get a hold of. With some persuasion to my dad, I managed to get Les Amitiés Particulières for fifty pounds on Ebay. As my volume is first edition from 1950 (making it that much more special!) there are some signs of wear, but mostly it is a very well-made book in good condition. None of the pages fell out as I read, like in some of the other old-ish books I own that were actually printed in the 80s, and the text wasn't overly faded in places. In fact, it has that lovely old book smell to it, another reason why I love it!

Georges De Sarre is a fourteen year-old boy with an aristocratic background, enrolling in Catholic boarding school, Saint Claude, under his parents instruction. At first he is reluctant to go to public school, as he had been home-tutored all his school life, but he soon makes friends with the two boys who sit next to him - Lucien Rouvière and Marc de Blajan, whom are both polar opposites of each other. Lucien has a secret friendship (read: relationship) with another boy in the school, André Ferron.
Marc, on the other hand, cryptically informs him that some people may seem good, but are in fact not; referring to Ferron whom is romantically involved with Lucien two years his junior. Set in the 1920s, this would typically be the response of peers in this situation. The main character, Georges, is confused by this statement, but soon comes to realise what de Blajan meant. Instead of being disgusted or disturbed of their behaviour like Marc, he becomes envious of Ferron for having Lucien's affections. He becomes close friends with Lucien, but on the other hand seeks to destroy his relationship by getting Ferron expelled. When Ferron was removed from Saint Claude by his doing, Georges felt very guilty and regretted his decision despite having Lucien all to himself.
Whilst watching a communion one morning, Georges sees the beautiful 12 year-old Alexandre Motier, who is serving as the altar boy for the ceremony. As his advances towards Lucien had remained fruitless, he soon fell for Alexandre instead. After watching and waiting to catch glimpses of the boy for a couple of months, Georges is finally introduced to Alexandre by Maurice Motier, who comments on their matching red ties.

Soon, the two boys meet in secret at the greenhouse - the place where Lucien and Ferron would often rendezvous - and exchange poems and the odd few kisses. Their relationship is very sweet and wholesome, with no sexual connotation at all, yet the priests at the school strongly forbid such friendships despite having feelings for some boys in the school themselves.
One priest, Father De Trennes likes to wake up boys in the middle of the night to meet in secret, giving them alcohol and cigarettes as bribery to talk with him. While nothing sexual is mentioned in the books between the father and the students, it is seen as suspicious, especially as Father De Trennes seems to know about Georges' and Alexandre's relationship. Sick of being woken up in the middle of the night, and afraid of being expelled for his secret friendship, Georges cunningly slips an anonymous letter under the Rector's door, telling him to go to De Trennes' room, where he was found smoking and drinking with Maurice. Father De Trennes is dismissed from the school, and everything is almost back to normal for Georges and Alexandre.
However, Father Lauzon, a close friend of the Motier family, walks in on a secret meeting between the pair, learns about their relationship and wants it to end immediately. He simply wanted to protect Alexandre from homosexuality, but by forcing Georges to send back his love letters (as a way of saying the relationship is over), he ends up with Alexandre committing suicide. Georges feelings were unchanged towards Alexandre, and is distraught at his death. Dismissing the thought of killing himself, Georges stays alive to avenge himself and Alexandre.

Georges de Sarre in the film didn't really strike me as much as Alexandre did, but whilst reading the book, it is the other way around, as it is mostly set from Georges' point of view! We learn that he is very intelligent and studious, top of almost every class. As well as being smart, he is also very cunning and sneaky, and can come up with clever schemes to get exactly what he wants. He is also confident and bold, which comes in very useful when he's in trouble with the fathers at school.
Alexandre, on the other hand, is youthful, energetic, and has very passionate emotions. He can get carried away with certain ideas, and is quite naïve in some places. However he is also sweet and beautiful, and has been described as the angel of the college by the teachers.

To be honest, whilst I was waiting for this book to arrive in the post, I was kind of worried about whether I'd be able to understand it or not. I come from a very atheist family, so have next to no knowledge about the Catholic religion, apart from the brief lessons at school every so often. When I watched the film of this book, a lot of the religious things such as confession, mass, and all the saint days were lost on me, and I felt very ignorant about the setting. In the book, thankfully, I found it a little easier to understand - and some parts of the film I misunderstood, about the letter Georges was going to send Alexandre before his death, for example, was clarified.

I loved reading this book, and think it was well worth the money I paid for it. It has given me a lot of inspiration, and I'm so glad I found such a rare book.

Les Amitiés Partiulières Chapter 2

Your Schoolboy Crush Is No Secret

I have never done anything realistic before, so I'm really happy with this! Well, actually I have... Which was self portraits in Art class... And every time I drew a line, the art teacher would hover over me and say 'no, no', then do it herself. XD Admittedly, I gave up even trying human anatomy at that point, and never again will I look at myself in the mirror for such a long period of time! XD
Sorry for the weird title, I just thought it matched the story of the picture... Ahaha.
Anyways, this is Alexandre Motier from the French film Les Amitiés Particulières. The picture I used to draw from was of Didier Haudepin, who is such a cutie in the film. I'm warning you though, it has to be one of the saddest books/films ever... Watch this video and you'll see what I mean. I'll be getting the book to read soon, and I absolutely can't wait!

Character (c) - Roger Peyrefitte

Les Amitiés Particulières Oneshot

Les Amitiés Particulières

Lately I've had this powerful urge to watch black and white films, and seeing as I couldn't get a hold of Les Amitiés Particulières fast enough, I had to settle for 50s horror movies over the past few days.

Les Amitiés Particulières  is a French film made in 1964, set in the 1920s. It takes place in an all-boys Catholic boarding school, where the aristocratic Georges De Sarre falls in love with a younger boy, Alexandre - when he was the alter boy holding the lamb. At first Georges had fallen for a boy his age called Lucien, who was already in love with another boy and didn't return his feelings. He moves on to Alexandre, meeting him in secret and sending him romantic poems. The two soon form a really close bond, and whether it is love or friendship, it is hard to tell. Trying to keep their relationship secret was hard, especially as their love was strictly prohibited by the Catholic Church at the time. They end up separated before the summer holidays, and Georges is forced to send him back all his love letters and tell him there was never anything between them. Distraught, Alexandre commits suicide; not knowing that there was a letter Georges withheld from sending, telling him to meet him in the holidays.

Les Amitiés inspired the comic The Heart of Thomas, written by Moto Hagio, so I decided to give it a go as I loved the comic. It was hard to find at first, and virtually impossible on Amazon and Ebay, but I asked my Dad to find it for me the other day, and he actually did! I'm so happy I got a chance to watch this amazing film, because I was becoming obsessed with trying to watch the un-subtitled version on YouTube and only understanding the odd phrase (Eat, Eat! and Sit down, sit down! were the only phrases I picked up on, ahaha).

 

For me, I found this film very, very sad, but extraordinarily beautiful. The relationship between Georges and Alexandre is so pure and gentle, and the time and setting just makes it that much more exciting. In parts, I almost wanted to scream at the priests for being so nosy and interfering by separating them... Especially as it caused Alexandre to die!

I want to write a fanfiction for this film, too, as it was really inspiring. Maybe it could be about the summer they could have had if that letter was delivered.