 When seeking a romantic partner, what qualities might they possess that you find simply irresistible? Do you value their wit or physical prowess? Could it be their charisma or sense of mystery? Or maybe the secret behind their power over your heart is the answer you believe they represent, an answer to a deep pain that is as alluring as it is fatal. Because in Alain Gerrodi's 2013 erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake, one man is about to test such a theory to the point of personal destruction. Set entirely around an unnamed lake in the south of France frequented by gay men, the story follows Franck, played by Pierre Delodonchamps, a regular visitor who engages in consensual cruising whilst also developing a platonic friendship with a loner Henry. After catching the eye of another man, Michel and his partner, Franck quickly becomes infatuated. But once he witnesses Michel drowning said partner in cold blood, his attraction only increases, to the point where his desire to be with Michel becomes all-consuming, causing him to ignore the peril he finds himself in whilst he begins a physical relationship with the killer. In terms of setting, Stranger by the Lake's world is entirely self-encompassing, with only the water and its immediate surrounding area acting as the sole backdrop of the story. As such, this gives the beautifully photographed location with its lush verdant woods and almost fantastical aura, a gay garden of Eden where time and the outside world seemingly does not exist, a place in which Franck and the other souls explore with a carefree naivety in the film's first act. However, once the chilling murder is committed, the lake itself takes on a far more foreboding presence, with added realism achieved thanks to the production's minimalist sound design, recorded entirely on location with no musical score. This realism is further enhanced thanks to the natural depiction of promiscuous gay sex that takes place, presenting an assortment of male characters in all shapes, sizes and ages, as well as the awkward almost business-like way in which the men browse each other for a potential quick thrill, without any artistic direction that condones or condemns the sometimes dangerous consequences that such behaviour can lead to. A danger that Franck himself refuses to see as his attempts to fervour his sexual relationship with Michelle into something more romantic repeatedly fail, providing for us, albeit fictionally, a sad, cinematic microcosm of one of the modern tragedies afflicting gay men in the world today, a crisis of loneliness, making those of us so inclined to ponder how close we are to the Franck of the story in our own lives and how far our own loneliness will take us to the strangers we wish to meet.