Queerly Ever After #56: YOU’LL GET OVER IT (2002)

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers. Also, don’t forget to buy your Queerly Ever After merch right here.

Vincent (Julien Baumgartner) has got it all. He’s a popular teenager with two great friends, Noémie (Julia Maraval) and Stéphane (François Comar), he gets great grades in school, and he’s the best swimmer on the school’s competitive swim team. But, he has one big secret: he’s gay. He’s been doing a good job at hiding his sexuality, is not out to anyone at home or school, but carries on a sexual relationship with the slightly older Bruno (Nils Öhlund), whose house he sneaks off to after school. That all changes when new student Benjamin (Jérémie Elkaïm) arrives. The two immediately feel drawn to one another, and one afternoon, some of Vincent’s swim team members spot Benjamin, who they already know to be gay, leaving Vincent’s home. Although nothing happened but a small kiss, the damage is done. The next day Vincent arrives at school, he sees “Vincent Molina is a homo” spray-painted across the school wall.

You’ll Get Over It (whose original French title directly translates to “Because of a Boy”), is one of those French made-for-TV movies aimed primarily at straight people to teach them about the ills of homophobia and preach tolerance. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s just an observation. Over the last two decades, France (and other European countries) have made a slew of made-for-TV movies about homophobia, several of which I will cover in this column. It’s also interesting to note that all of these films ended up getting a theatrical release.

The Secret’s Out

After he is outed, he finds himself the target of school bullies, particularly his swim teammates, who berate him and trot out the usual homophobic remarks. What I did appreciate, however, is how his friends stood by him. Stéphane immediately tells Vincent that he only wished he’d already known, but Vincent will always be his best friend and he loves him. Noémie takes it harder; not because of prejudice, but because before he was outed, she and Vincent had sex. For her, that meant something, but she realized that for him he was just trying to “straighten” himself out. She is justifiably angry and hurt, but she still cares deeply for him, even if she needs time to get over the romantic feelings she has developed.

The adults at his school also try to stand by him. His swimming coach sets up private training sessions for him so he can train without the harassment of the other boys, and his literature teacher berates the students in his class for their bullying. Could these adults do more? Yes, they could take real disciplinary action against the bullies and show them that their actions have consequences, but compared to adults in other movies I have or will write about, they at least do something.

In Conclusion: You’ll Get Over It

This movie is not as focused on the romance between Vincent and Benjamin as it is on Vincent learning to live his life openly, but they do end up together at the end of the film. I actually think some more time could have been taken to develop their relationship. Once Vincent gets outed, Benjamin sort of becomes this tertiary character when he’d been set up as this mysterious, sexy new boy at the beginning of the movie.

You’ll Get over It was written by Vincent Molina and directed by Fabrice Cazeneuve. It came out theatrically in the USA on June 18, 2004. For all other release dates, see here.

Watch You’ll Get over It