I Am Jonas (2018) – French Gay Themed Movie Review

I Am Jonas is one of those films that slips under your skin without asking permission. You sit down expecting a simple story about a guy wrestling with himself, and suddenly you’re rifling through your own memories, seeing pieces of your life reflected in his flashbacks. You know that feeling – when the past knocks just when you’re convinced you’ve buried it for good.

Jonas today – a man running, but only in circles

We start with adult Jonas (Félix Maritaud): restless, sleepless, scattered. He wakes up in strangers’ apartments, floats through nights that blur into mornings, and all the while circles a single trauma he’s never managed to dig out properly. That phase when everything looks fine on the outside, but inside a quiet alarm keeps buzzing? That’s Jonas in a nutshell.

Maritaud plays him with such ease that it feels like the camera is simply observing a real person, not an actor. No theatrics, no posing – just a guy who misplaced himself somewhere along the way.

Jonas then – the summer that shapes you forever

Then the film cracks open and drops us back to 1995, when Jonas meets Nathan. And it’s that one chapter many of us secretly carry: the person who arrives out of nowhere, shakes the ground beneath your feet, opens a new world… and then vanishes. Jonas is just a kid figuring himself out; Nathan is the gust of wind that pushes him forward.

The chemistry? Ridiculously good. That teenage current – a bit awkward, a bit shy, a bit “what if he doesn’t like me?”, while both of them already know exactly where this is going.

And then – a black hole

Without giving too much away: Nathan’s disappearance becomes the gravitational center of Jonas’s entire life, even twenty years later. Nothing that happens afterward makes full sense until you understand what happened back then. And – like Jonas – you have to peel through every layer. This isn’t just a love story. It’s a story about guilt, silence, and the way trauma settles precisely where your heart needs space to breathe.

Why it works so well

• Because it doesn’t chase tears – it chases truth.
• Because it forces you to connect point A and point B in Jonas’s life, and the picture only snaps into focus at the end.
• Because the teenage performances feel lived-in, not performed.
• Because adult Jonas isn’t portrayed as “broken,” but as someone still trying to be human despite all the unfinished business inside him.

The moment that stays with you

There is one quiet scene – you’ll know it when you see it – where it becomes clear that Jonas has spent years punishing himself for something he could never have controlled. That’s the punch that lingers. No melodrama. No manipulation. Just life, in its most uncomfortable form – when you swallow the hurt and keep going because what else can you do?

Conclusion (without dressing it up)

I Am Jonas is a small film that lands with the weight of a much bigger one. No spectacle, no fireworks, no epic twists – but it has heart, and the kind you see only when someone forgets to hide it. If you’re into queer stories that feel real, raw, and emotional without turning into a cliché, this one deserves your time.

And if you’ve ever loved someone who disappeared too soon – even if only from your life – you’ll understand exactly why Jonas still can’t let go, even twenty years later.