Confusion of Genders (2000)

Fresh and Exciting

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The plot was too confusing and the protagonist was not that endearing to hold your attention. The acting was good, particularly the lead; however, his personality is not one that affirms he could have attracted such a broad and diverse group of males and females -- essentially everyone who came into his immediate orbit. The relationship between his employer seemed the more comfortable and most developed one and therefore her willingness to both sleep with and marry him was more believable. They both went into this disaster with eyes wide open and it appeared that they were willing to do it because they felt they had no real choices. It's an interesting movie and one can see the appeal to others, but it's a bit more precious without saying as much to recommend to everyone.

Laughed my head off - a howling laugh riot - sexy for sure - entire cast is gorgeous, but it's so funny you don't have time to think about whatever hormones may be rushing through your body as the beautiful people parade before you - for me it says just how absurd we all are and what complications we create over nothing! Left me with a wonderful feeling at how uncomplicated my own life is and how I have managed to avoid complication by keeping things simple - also by keeping wacky people out of my life! Like all French films, this one is character-driven, something Hollywood doesn't know anything about and which distinguishes French films above all others. There is something about French films that is truly unique and this one is a perfect example of French film at its best - although I cannot think of any French film I did not like.

The "confusion" here is more a plethora, an embarrassment of riches and of choices. At the center of every scene is bisexual (or is he just gay?) lawyer Alain (Pascal Greggory). Everybody wants him, or thinks he wants them -- handsome imprisoned murderer Marc (Vincent Martinez), cute gay boy Christophe (Cyrille Thouvenin), attractive and accomplished law partner Laurence (Nathalie Richard, who's more Alain's age); the prisoner's (former) girlfriend Babette (Julie Gayet); Marc's prison-mate Étienne (noted singer Alain Bashung) even gets amusingly involved at the end. Alain and his law partner are talking about marrying, and it's all practical and boring, except that it's impulsive too. Through it all Pascal Greggory has that bored, annoyed look he always has; but he registers a lot of other looks too -- he's a skillful movie actor and for good reason one of the busiest in France. This is very French, a sort of comedy of ill humor, sex, and indecision. The hilariously grumpy and irritable "haute bourgeoisie" relatives of Laurence and Alain who come into play when wedding bells are in the offing include the great Bulle Ogier as Laurence's mother. The various nude scenes aren't just titillation; they're all skillfully and sometimes hilariously illustrative of characters and situations and of Alain's "embarras du choix.""La Confusion des genres" is dry and amusing and well paced and has an excellent cast but it's very French and you wouldn't necessarily expect it to go over well with Americans, and it didn't. US critics pretty much hated it. On Metacritic it got a 39. Many American viewers think it's pretentious and unfunny. They miss the witty but blunt dialogue (which all the French critics complement), and they don't appreciate Greggory, who's perfect here, or the delicately observed range of French social and personality types. This is as good a treatment of the pains and pleasures of the bisexual life as seen from the French 21st-century standpoint as, at the time, was John Schlesinger's very English (1971) "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; but as a movie it doesn't carry quite as much weight and clearly like some wines it does not travel well.Doing the voice-over commentary in English for the American DVD didn't turn out very well either. Director Duran Cohen studied at NYU Film School and and is fluent, but he's paired with Greggory and Thouvenin, who're pretty tongue-tied, and the conversation never gets going. Why didn't they do it in French with subtitles as Kassovitz, Cassel, and Reno did so entertainingly for the US "Crimson Rivers" DVD? Then maybe they would have been more relaxed and talkative, as the "Crimson Rivers" team was, and something more informative would have resulted.

"Confusion of Genders" is all about Alain, a wishy-washy lawyer and mostly gay bisexual who has a male lover, a female fiancé, and another female who is lusting after him for reasons unknown. Although the film is well crafted with believable performances and solid production value, the story is a depressingly misanthropic satire in which no one has a good word to say to anyone during the entire run leaving us, the audience, detached and with no one to care about. The result is a less than satisfying watch with a bad after taste, when combined with lots of inconsequential dialogue and, hence, subtitle reading will make for a less than desirable watch for most. Only for French film fanatics who don't mind lots of graphic gay sex. (B-)