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House of Boys

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6.1/10 • 37

2009-11-202h 0m

DramaRomance

Make Love Your Goal

It is 1984. Frank is a determined English teenager who runs away from high school to find an alternative gay lifestyle in Amsterdam. He finds a home and a job at the "House of Boys", a bar-cum-brothel run by a strict Madame who has an eye for what his punters crave. Frank works his way up from barman to on-stage dancer and falls in love with some of his housemates, Jake. The first intimations of what is described as 'the gay cancer', casts a long shadow over Frank's tight-knit group of friends. Yet despite the troubles that cloud the hopes and dreams of young Frank, his perseverance, along with support from a willing doctor, will carry him through.

Directors
Jean-Claude Schlim
Writters
Jean-Claude Schlim
Editors
Jean-Claude Schlim, Katharina Schmidt

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Layke Anderson

    Layke Anderson

    Frank

  2. Benn Northover

    Benn Northover

    Jake

  3. Udo Kier

    Udo Kier

    Madame

  4. Stephen Fry

    Stephen Fry

    Dr. Marsh

  5. Steven Webb

    Steven Webb

    Angelo

  6. Chris McHallem

    Chris McHallem

    Frank's Father

  7. Vicky Krieps

    Vicky Krieps

    Flower Shop Girl

  8. Harry Ferrier

    Harry Ferrier

    Karl

  9. Michael Kühl

    Michael Kühl

    Christopher

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Mar 19, 2025

7/10

“Frank” (Layke Anderson - anyone else thing he looks a lot like Freddie Fox?) is a young British gay lad living in Amsterdam who has just left school and who is looking for life, love and some sort of adventure. He arrives at the “House of Boys” where “Madame” (Udo Kier) believes his assertions that he’s a great dancer - even is he looks bedraggled! He has to share a room with the club’s straight star “Jake” (Benn Northover) who kicks him out each time his girlfriend come for a visit, but quickly this eclectic yet friendly group welcome him to their fold and he starts to become popular. The emphasis now shifts a little to “Jake” who is having a fairly torrid time with his “my body my rules” partner whilst simultaneously providing services for wealth visiting Americans who pay well to sleep with him. Things come to an head when someone steals his savings and when he discovers who took it, feels betrayed and that’s where the arms of the waiting “Frank” might come in handy. Their relationship starts to take on a new dimension but it’s not long before an incident leads to an hospital appointment and the entry of Stephen Fry’s “Dr. Marsh” who has some news to deliver - news that was grabbing headlines all around the world in 1985! Initially, this is quite a light and fluffy look at stereotypical gay culture, centred around a seamy dance club where sex is bought and paid for with scant regard to any though of the repercussions. It’s only when the story beds down and the characters become a little more established that it becomes a bit more substantial. It looks a little at transitional sexuality, and it addresses (albeit entirely one-sidedly) issues around abortion but the main thrust of the plot sees two characterful efforts from Anderson and Northover emerge from the “Magic Mike” elements and take us on quite a tormentedly plausible story set at the outset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was being stigmatised by not just the community at large, but the gay one too whilst the scientific one struggled to get it’s head around people with no T-cell count at all in their blood! The plot is not that original, but it has an earthiness to it; a darkness peppered with bits of sarcastic comedy and some decent drag routines at the start to illustrate quite potently a naive and cavalier way of life that was in for a shock. Given it’s timeframe, the outcome is pretty much writing in the wall, but to watch now when the disease is relatively manageable reminds us that a mere forty years ago this was an out-and-out killer.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$2,500,000.00
Revenue
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Keywords
aidslove at first sightamsterdam, netherlandsbrothelcabaretbullymale homosexualitylgbtbrothel madam1980srent boyrent boysgay themehiv/aids epidemichomosexualgay sex