At the root of homophobia lies the notion of masculinity as the rigid standard for men and boys (and in a minor subplot, femininity for girls and women). We've seen this all before but Hidden Kisses confronts it head on. In some ways that are deftly handled and in others that are a bit clumsy. There is a homophobic father and is often the weak link in these coming of age movies. It's hard to to get ones head around a character that is so thinly defined except there are real people like this. There are plenty of homophobic students who bully Nathan including one who is black.

The movie really shines when we see the full impact of social media on cultural expectations and norms, and how young adults don't see the consequences of their actions using it. They can do so much harm with so little effort. If the film had focused on this thematically, it might have been a more daring and smarter film. As such, it mostly just does the old stuff very well and returns the focus on the two leads, only to stray with brief chatter between teachers and parents.

The actors do a good job, especially Bérenger Anceaux as Nathan but the adult cast is uniformly excellent.

If you haven't seen any coming of age films, this is better than many others. It is the story of two teen guys who are dealing with same sex attraction. It is just as much a story about how the parents, siblings, and teachers deal with (or are the cause of) the problems of societal attitudes, bullying, etc. The film conveys the emotional aspects very well and the acting is excellent. It is hard for me to give this a glowing review since it really doesn't cover any new ground. (Spoiler) if anything it is sad to see such strong parental angst and disapproval from both fathers and the mother, especially considering one father is an MD. It is 2016 after all and while I realize everyone still isn't tolerant, Gay children aren't something new. Another spoiler - in the scene where Nathan is in the locker room and the boys are beating him, Louis the love interest joins in punching him too. Of course that is to remove suspicion that he is Gay. But he doesn't apologize later. This seems to be a recurring theme in movies that apologies aren't necessary almost no matter what the transgression is.

As I was watching this movie I kept asking myself was it film in 2016 or 1950. The abuse and public ridicule the main character got in high school and the adults was a bit too far fetch for me to believe for a movie taking place 2016 in France. However the young lovers let me overlook that because they were fantastic, especially louis. I think the film should have focus more on the young lovers and not the parents or the classmates. A good 1/2 of the film was wasted on the homophobic classmates which was too much time focusing on them. All and all though, this is a good film and finally a gay film can have an happy ending and not people ending up killing themselves.