Laurence Anyways - a brilliant movie

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 3:44pm

Out on DVD today.

Have you all seen this movie? You really should. I did a search, but was surprised to find no mention of it - though it didn't get a very wide release, so perhaps it's not that surprising. Anyway, it's my personal favorite of the year so far.

The story of Laurence, a school-teacher in 1980s Quebec, who on his 30th birthday reveals to his girlfriend that he is transgendered and intends to start living as a woman - the story spans their struggle to come to terms with the situation over a ten-year period. Starring Melvil Poupaud and Suzanne Clement, with (of course) fine support from Nathalie Baye as Laurence's mother. An excellent soundtrack of music from the time (Depeche Mode, DuranDuran etc.) mixed with classical works like Prokofiev and Brahms.

The posters on this board generally know much more about movies than I do, so apologies if you're already familiar - but I loved, loved, loved this movie and wanted to share. Xavier Dolan is only at the start of his career as a director, but already he's one of my favorites.




Trailer

Updated On: 10/8/13 at 03:44 PM

[BornThisWay]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 7:46pm

I have not seen this movie however, I'm a huge Xavier Dolan fan. I loved his first film "I Killed My Mother", which is on Netflix, and thought his second movie "Heartbeats" was charming. He has touches of Francois Truffaut, Gus Van Sant, and even a little John Cameron Mitchell in his works. I'll soon be checking this one out.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 8:32pm

Stanley Kubrick has been mentioned as an influence on Laurence Anyways. I agree his previous two have been great - and his next, Tom at the Farm, looks very promising too. From imdb, "A grieving man meets his lovers family, who were unaware of their son's orientation".

Updated On: 10/8/13 at 08:32 PM

[strummergirl]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 8:43pm

It's beautiful. The length worried me because no matter how much I loved Heartbeats, it did not feel like a 100 minute movie at all in terms of pacing. But anyway, Suzanne Clement, in a perfect world, would have every award thrown at her. I would've talked about it but it appeared to have came and went for one week in NY. Shame.

I am a huge fan of Dolan and find it pretty insane he has already made 4 features (missed Tom at the Farm at TIFF and regretting it) yet managed to make a really insightful, mature movie. I love Heartbeats but you could pretty much tell what his cinematic references were off the bat. Laurence Anyways was bold and unabashedly ambitious. I know some critics find him nauseating already but I think he is an important young voice in cinema, especially one that portrays frank representations of sexuality and gender identity. And on a stylistic note, dude knows how to pick a soundtrack.

BornThisWay, Heartbeats also moves in the direction of young Godard, Woody Allen, and Wong Kar-Wai (or just Christopher Doyle) in references. I also think the movie has a real sense of humor about itself.