In 1970s Zurich, 15-year-old Beni falls head over heels for Foegi, a charismatic but self-destructive rock singer. What begins as idol worship quickly morphs into a toxic, obsessive relationship marked by drugs, manipulation, and blurred boundaries. "Fögi Is a Bastard" is a haunting coming-of-age tale about love, addiction, and losing yourself in someone else’s chaos.
Fögi Is a Bastard (1998) – A Boy, A Rock Star, and a Downward Spiral
When you’re 15, everything hits harder. Music. Love. Rebellion. Especially when all of that is wrapped in one skinny, drugged-out, leather-wrapped singer named Fögi.
Beni is a quiet, sensitive teenager growing up in Zurich in the 1970s — more into vinyls than football, more poetry than partying. But the moment he hears Fögi’s voice on the radio, it’s like a jolt of electricity. “Foegi was a star,” he says. The obsession is instant, the fall inevitable.
Fögi (Jean-François Stévenin) is the lead singer of “The Minks” — a chaotic mix of Jim Morrison flair and basement gig realism. Charismatic, unpredictable, and broken, Fögi draws Beni into his orbit not with kindness, but with intensity. The boy is flattered, then flung headfirst into a world of sex, drugs, and emotional manipulation he’s absolutely not ready for.
“I was instantly attracted to him. His music totally fascinated me.” – Beni
At first, Beni thinks he’s just a roadie — rolling cables, fetching drinks. But the line between fan and lover quickly blurs. Fögi, unstable and often high, begins to use Beni for comfort, for control, and for survival. And Beni, in the naive glow of first love, lets it happen.
The film doesn’t romanticize what’s happening — and that’s what makes it so painful and raw. We watch a teenage boy unravel for someone who doesn’t know how to love back. It’s about grooming, dependency, and the cost of worshipping damaged idols.
Visually, the film leans into its gritty realism — grainy textures, shadowy corners, sweaty club stages. It feels more like a confession than a performance, which makes sense, since it’s based on an autobiographical novel.
If you’re looking for something tender, look elsewhere. But if you’re ready for a gut-punch of a queer coming-of-age story — one that dives into obsession, trauma, and how first love can sometimes be your first wound — this one stays with you.
🧍♂️ Character Sketches in Fögi Is a Bastard
- Beni – 15-year-old narrator. Intelligent, shy, and emotionally vulnerable. He’s looking for love, identity, and escape — and finds all the wrong versions of those in Fögi.
- Fögi – A burned-out rock singer with a magnetic presence. Equal parts seducer and destroyer, he’s both idol and abuser in Beni’s eyes.
- Waede & the Band – Background noise to Fögi’s mess, they’re more passive than predatory, but complicit in the chaos.
“Instead of reading teen magazines, you’d better smoke a joint.” – Fögi
Ultimately, Fögi Is a Bastard is less about music and more about silence — the kind that forms when no one speaks up, and a boy is left to figure out what love should and shouldn’t be.
