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10/19/2014

Laurence Anyways (2012) - First Dolan blunder is an epic-length drag



Immersive and stylish, the blushing poster for Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways

Laurence and his girlfriend Fred are madly in love, when he confides to her that he is a transsexual, and that he wants to become a woman. In the following years, Laurence accordingly changes his identity, but SPOILER loses his job and Fred.

Laurence features bold acting, and both leads give themselves 100 %: Melvin Poupard (A Summer's Tale (1996)) and Suzanne Clément (Mommy (2014)), who is especially emotional throughout, - overly so, in fact, as continual huffing, puffing, screaming and crying ultimately alienates.
The two fight a lot in the film, and French-Canadian writer-director whiz-kid Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother (2009)) holds his scenes for long, - sometimes for so long that I lost my sense of the film's structure. - Which is too long.
Laurence offers beautiful episodes and lovely music choices (Cyndi Lauper, Visage and The Cure among others) and true panache for the 1980's period in which it takes place, especially in an incredible party scene.
Transsexualism is a difficult subject for a film, and Laurence Anyways will possibly appeal most to real-life transsexuals. The film seems self-indulgent (with a 161 minute playtime) and searching in an incomplete sort of way. Furthermore, I didn't understand the ending: Did Laurence not change everything to live as he wanted, - SPOILER but then only to return to be male for Fred again?!?
Laurence Anyways is Dolan's first weak film.




Watch the trailer for Laurence Anyways with English subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[Produced by French MK2 Productions and Canadian Lyla Films, Laurence received acclaim at Cannes 2012, where Clément won Un Certain Regard Best Actress, and the film also won the Queer Palm Award and later for Best Canadian Feature at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. Its cost and box office results are unreported.]

What do you think of Laurence Anyways?
Other film/s about being a transsexual that you want to recommend?

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