Before I Forget

Struggling against writer's block to complete a book, an ageing, gay ex-gigolo reflects on his hedonistic past, the 24 years he has spent with HIV and his current loneliness in Paris. In this French art-house film, Pierre (Jacques Nolot) gossips with a closeted married friend, complains to his psychiatrist about the medication he has to take, and discusses desire with a young rent boy.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:Matt Glasby, Total Film: Geriatrically paced but genuinely compassionate, Before I Forget introduces a world of ageing bodies, fading libidos and lives spent in thrall to fleeting pleasures. Whether it's one you'll want to visit depends on your stomach for watching grumpy old men unenthusiastically humping each other. (Verdict: three stars out of five)

Nigel Andrews, Financial Times: This French portrait of an ageing gay bird pecking at memory and reality as the doors of his Paris flat swing open and shut to passing "tricks", and the doors of his mind to passing moments of Proustian recall, is oddly affecting even while oddly inert. No one quite acts; they read lines. The camera doesn't exactly move; it sits and stares. But any film that boasts two jokes about Roland Barthes and one scene - surreal, deadpan, inspired - of superannuated cross-dressing will take its place, for some, near the front of the must-see queue.

Andrew Pulver, the Guardian: Before I Forget turns out to be pretty watchable, if sobering, with a fine eye for the absurdities its situations generate. (Example: the crochety old doctor who breaks off administering oral relief to a handsome patient to go and have a row with his wife.) (Verdict: three stars out of five) ·