Savage nights = Les Nuits fauves

Jean is a talented photographer and filmmaker, accustomed to living impulsively, according to his own rules. He is bi-sexual and HIV+ - a fact which he sometimes fails to tell his numerous lovers. Over the course of the film Jean struggles with his tempestuous nature, mortality and the effect his behaviour has on others. Laura is an exuberant seventeen year-old with whom Jean has an intense affair; her naive yet cynical nature beguiles Jean, for whom she has a grand passion. Jean simultaneously has an affair with Samy - an aimless young rugby player who is drawn to racist nationalism and violence. This drama provides a compelling portrait of several individuals and their trials in love and sex. The political aspects of the AIDS epidemic are personalised within the context of Jean’s yearnings, and pitched against the audiences’ expectations regarding the behaviour of a HIV+ man. “Savage nights” was scandalous at the time of its release as it showed Laura declining to use a condom despite the fact that Jean has AIDS. Largely interpreted as autobiographical, depicting the life of the writer, director and actor, Cyril Collard, “Savage nights” received several French Cesars just days before Collard’s death. In French with English subtitles.