What We Have [Ce qu’on a] *** (2014, Maxime Desmons, Jean-Michel Le Gal, Alex Ozerov-Meyer, Roberta Maxwell, Kristen Thomson, Marie-Eve Perron) – Classic Movie Review 13,831

The 2014 Canadian LGBT drama film What We Have [Ce qu’on a] is written and directed by Maxime Desmons, who also stars as a lonely troubled gay French actor who takes a job tutoring a high school student (Alex Ozerov).

Maxime Desmons stars in the 2014 Canadian LGBT drama film What We Have [Ce qu’on a]as lonely troubled gay French actor Maurice, who has relocated from Paris to a remote North Canadian small town in North Bay, Ontario. 

He lands a low-paid job with the local theatrical company and the leading role in their production of Moliere’s The Miser. Their stage manager Michael (Jean-Michel Le Gal) pushes for a relationship with him but this only leads Maurice to become tormented by repressed childhood memories of sexual abuse by his stepfather.

He also takes work tutoring French to 15-year-old Allan (Alex Ozerov), a shy misfit student struggling at school and at home, though enjoying his swimming expertise. The two develop a complex and risky relationship that threatens to destroy their already precarious lives. Allan misinterprets Maurice’s attention for love, and falls in love with Maurice, while Maurice feels forced to protect and defend Allan from a high school bully tormenting him for being gay, with disastrous results.

[Spoiler alert] So, not a happy story, then, but, encouragingly, not a tragic one. No one dies. But then no one lives happily ever after either. What We Have is carefully produced, lovingly made, warmly intentioned and convincingly acted. It involves and engrosses in its story, and grips as to its outcome.

Where is it going exactly? Like life, its story is a bit messy and inconclusive, with loose ends and more questions than answers, but that is just fine. It’s not an exam paper demanding the right answers, it’s a subtle reflective film asking questions. The Canadian locations help to keep it fresh and a little bit unusual, as do the actors, characters and story.

The boy’s kindly but bewildered mom (Kristen Thomson) and the awful, nasty grannie (Roberta Maxwell) are very useful characters, both nicely played, as is the actor’s fellow thespian (Marie-Eve Perron) who is frustrated by her unrequited thing for the hero. The theme seems unrequited love, or love misdirected, love frustrated, love gone wrong. It’s a very sad world.

What We Have is a good title, but also mystifying.

It is written, co-produced and directed by Maxime Desmons, who also stars.

It premiered on September 18, 2014 and was released in 2015.

Running time: 89 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,831

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