Tiresia (2003)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

To me, this movie is perfection.

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

***SPOILERS***Very loosely based on the Greek myth of Tiresias, Tiresia is a non-op transgender woman and prostitute. The plot is really harrowing. Tiresia is forced into prostitution by her own brother, kidnapped by an "admirer" who is apparently a rose-loving priest, tied up, isolated, blinded by her captor having her eyes punctured with a sharp instrument, dumped and left for dead, nursed back to health (albeit permanently blind) by a young woman who eventually turns out to be an opportunist, and finally killed by the apparently-selfsame priest. Through all of this vile treatment, she tries to make the best of things. In return for her inhumane treatment, the gods grant her a gift. I don't feel this movie had much to say. It just seems to be a catalog of atrocities visited on a human being. There are some inaccuracies concerning the transgender experience - or at least she is not typical of transgender women - in that I don't believe even a blinded transgender woman would wish to have her hair cut or wish to discontinue hormones and live as male or even androgyne. It is not clear that transgender Tiresia is in fact transsexual per se, but she is constantly referred to as transsexual. (She is not a transvestite though, since she takes hormones.) The movie is haunting, and it does not demean transgender people and Tiresia will be a sympathetic character to many, if only because she is a victim who, mostly, refuses to let this define her, a person who tries to adapt.

I'll never forget this movie I've seen with my boyfriend by chance, one night, on cable TV. Beginning with the highest symphony ever made (Beethoven's 7th), a burning volcano, then the cold and frightening voice of Lucas (one of the best french actors)...you just have to let yourself go in this symphonic movie, in between calm and tough unexpected moments of violence. So you stay nervous till the end, and even if you know a part of the key of the mystery before its end, it doesn't matter, as the actors keep you under their control. I wont tell more about this piece of pure art, to keep its secret. Just watch it, no matter where and how !

Other than good, bad or indifferent it's difficult to classify this one. Okay, it's based on a Myth so the director needs to find modern equivalents but this still leaves unanswered questions. Number one must be why Laurent Lucas picked this particular hooker to kidnap. There's no indication that they had met previously and by extension that Laurent would know Tiresia was a pre-op transsexual. Number two, why do none of her hooker colleagues come looking for her and/or report her missing; given the precarious nature of sex-with-strangers it's reasonable to suppose that hookers write down and/or memorise the numbers of the cars they and their colleagues get into. Number three, where does Lucas get his money? He appears to have no job yet lives in a large several storey house - albeit dilapidated - and drives a car without a visible source of income. To these can be added others such as what, if any symbolic meaning has the hedgehog in Laurent's garden which he is constantly feeding and why - other than the fact that it fits the original myth - does he opt to blind Tiresia rather than killing her outright or breaking say an arm or a leg. Then we can throw in why does Laurent double the role of a priest in the second half of the film. Though I kept watching til the end these and other questions punctuated the viewing throughout, not the best sign for a filmmaker whose objective surely is to make you forget you're watching a film.

VERY MINOR SPOILERSI am excited for two reasons - first, having moved to France I can now drown myself in French cinema. Secondly, this may be the first time that I have been the first to comment on a movie for IMDB. I might even actually be convincing you cinema-goers out there to see a film that I liked. How wonderfully,innocently exciting.And, yes - I am trying to persuade you to see this film. Watching Tiresia is not an easy Sunday night at your local multiplex, but it is a good film.Shocking, disturbing, horrifying in places, Tiresia is suberbly acted by a strong cast, with special note to both actors in the eponymous role. In places the camerawork is a little shoddy but this is easily overcome with dramatic set pieces and chilling imagery that will leave you with nightmares for weeks. Trust me.Tiresia, the story, is of a transexual prostitute who is captured and brutally stabbed, to survive and rebuild what remains of this character's seemingly hopeless existence. However the beauty in this film is not to be found in its story, but in the incredible transformation of Tiresia. Without wishing to reveal too much, watch carefully as the director forces us to see Tiresia change.I highly recommend this film, although you rednecks and scousers out there (you know who u are)might not find it at your local cinema. Hunt it down where you can. 8/10