2023-08-03 07:01:00
A boy meets another boy. They become friends and fall in love. At the end of the first season of “Heartstopper,” 16-year-old Nick finally admitted his feelings for 15-year-old Charlie. The first, bisexual, and the second, gay, are on a small cloud and live their love together, without showing themselves in public. The second season, whose eight episodes are posted on Netflix this Thursday, August 3, revolves around the question of coming out.
How to formalize a relationship between boys with their loved ones, their families but also the world around them? The question tortures Nick, whom everyone believes to be heterosexual, while Charlie’s homosexuality is already known. However, the latter has been the victim of harassment in the past and wishes at all costs to avoid this for her boyfriend.
If the questions addressed in “Heartstopper” ring so true, it’s because they resonate strongly with reality. The sudden notoriety acquired by the main actors, Kit Connor (Nick) and Joe Locke (Charlie), both now aged 19, has not had only beneficial effects. Like a mirror of fiction, the first sought to avoid talking regarding his own sexuality, where the second had publicly declared his homosexuality at the age of 15. Following a wave of urgent comments on Twitter in particular, Kit Connor finally announced that he was bisexual last October, denouncing this “forced coming out” by Internet users who had obviously understood nothing of the message of the series. .
The protagonists get a change of scenery thanks to a school trip to Paris
Season 2 shines in capturing Nick’s unease at every stage of his journey in accepting and affirming his sexual identity. The complexity of adolescent malaise also concerns the other characters, such as Elle, a young transgender woman, and her best friend Tao who seem to be attracted to each other. Or Isaac who spends his time with his nose buried in books and who does not know how to react when he arouses the romantic interest of one of his comrades.
These new episodes are also an opportunity for the protagonists to get a change of scenery thanks to a school trip to Paris. Over the course of three sections, college students walk the streets of the French capital, from the Sacré-Coeur to the Pont des Arts, from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower. A tourist Paris of course, but which has the good idea to unveil the Renoir gardens of the Montmartre Museum or different wings of the Louvre by only lingering for a few seconds in front of the Mona Lisa.
This getaway benefits from an original soundtrack in tune with titles by Hervé, Christine and The Queens or Louane. And to underline the romantic reputation of the city coinciding with the boiling hormones of the heroes, the pupils sleep at the Mignon hotel, and pass by a metro station called École du cœur.
Resolutely positive, full of sweetness and tenderness, candor and sometimes naivety – we love the originality of the staging punctuated with small drawn effects – “Heartstopper” is however not a fairy tale. The fiction also manages to highlight painful situations with nuance, without falling into simplistic Manichaeism.
In addition to the familiar faces of season 1, among which we find the always excellent Olivia Colman in the skin of Nick’s mother, a Frenchman makes his appearance: Thibault de Montalembert, who embodies the father of this one. We only see him in two episodes, but the actor confirms his talent for interpreting absent parents, following his role in “Dix Pour Cent”.
Already renewed for a third season, the series adapted from the graphic novels of the young author Alice Oseman (who is still at the helm of fiction and signs all the scenarios) has not finished making our hearts beat.
Editor’s note:
“Heartstopper”, a British series by Alice Oseman with Kit Connor, Joe Locke, Yasmin Finney… Season 2 (2023), eight episodes of 28 to 37 minutes each.
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