Jean-Jacques Jauffret

Jean is young, gay, and promiscuous. Only after he meets one or two women, including Laura, does he come to realize his bisexuality. Jean has to overcome a personal crisis and a tough choice between Laura and his male lover Samy.

It's a grim world of prostitution, drug dens, transvestites, junkies and murderers. The seediest side of urban life is examined in this tragedy. The film follows the complex, interwoven lives of four characters as they live their harsh and gritty nocturnal lives on the city streets. The main characters are Fifi a pickpocket who is simultaneously involved with Divine, a transvestite hooker and Vera a peep show dancer who refuses to be a hooker. Vera lives with her would-be pimp Jesus le Gitan, a small-scale drug dealer. When the area riff-raff become embroiled in hostilities, two of main characters are slowly killed in horrible ways. Fifi is then left to avenge their deaths.

It's a tale of two shocks. 1992, Les Nuits fauves hits theaters. 1993, Cyril Collard dies of AIDS. The artist and his film caused a scandal in 90s France, which suddenly realized the violence of the epidemic and the upheaval it would bring for its children... Collard's work still resonates today, through its depiction of the rage of life and sexual freedom, and the courage it takes to face up to the inevitability of the virus. This documentary is supported by powerful archive footage, allowing us to rediscover the destiny of a striking artist. It is also based on the testimonies of those who knew him and agreed to talk about who he was, the driving forces behind his rebellion and his way of creating. The film is also punctuated by readings from some of the thousands of letters sent to Cyril Collard, revealing what it was about his work that struck a chord with viewers, especially younger ones.