Beyond the Walls / Hors les murs

It started so sweetly and innocently; barman Ilir carried the hammered Paulo upstairs to bed to sleep off his alcohol-induced oblivion. And so they met: the guitar-playing, spontaneous descendant of Albanian immigrés – who holds to the philosophy of carpe diem - and the young neurotic blonde, who lives with his older girlfriend, accompanies silent films on piano at nights, and is just starting to realize his sexual fantasies. During one such experiment, Ilir inexplicably disappears – and even when the desperate Paulo finds him again – nothing is ever going to be the same. Passion, conflict of desire and harsh reality recklessly intrude in this head-over heels-in-love idyll in the feature debut of David Lambert, who spices up every scene with fresh directing touches, alternating a sense of humor with elated drama and surprising twists with precision. The stripping of intimacy mixed with non-vulgar total openness brought the film the honor to premiere in Cannes’ Critic’s Choice.