Dry cleaning (1997)

I can't make up my mind whether Dry cleaning (dir. Anne Fontaine) explores homophobia or whether it represents it. It is clear, however, that the way the subject is dealt with is not exactly of the subtle kind. The film is set in a small, sleepy town and the two of the main characters, a married couple, work and own a dry cleaning. They take a lot of pride in what they do and their life seems to follow a quiet, predictable rhythm. At a night-club they meet a young man with whom they become friends. Immediately, it is beyond doubt that both of them have also fallen for the guy. And here the question appears: how should homophobia be described without the film itself submitting to a certain perspective about "decent men" and normal masculinity? The problem with Dry cleaning is that in the end, the violence of homophobia turns into a dramatic ploy, a way to wrap up the story. The violence we see is brutal and cruel and that's that. Some sort of moral message seems to have been delivered but to be honest I am not sure of what nature it was and I fear it may not be an amiable one either, as much of the material seems to blame dark sexual powers for breaking up people's lives. Even though there are some good scenes here conveying the tensions within a marriage, along with knots of unruly desire, Dry cleaning too often takes resort into dramatic denouements instead of patiently studying these tensions and knots.