Tiresia
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
Bertrand
Bonello gained an interesting bit of attention with his controversial,
international hit Le Pornographe
from 2001 (reviewed elsewhere on this site), also simply known as The
Pornographer. It made connections
between sex, revolution, the end of revolution and about how the sex and energy
varies more than people want to deal with.
Tiresia (2003) is about a transvestite prostitute (partly based
on a figure in Greek Mythology) who is going along in life when a client
decides to take obsession and desire further via kidnapping.
Eventually blind and wounded, the title character
seems to become clairvoyant, though this is not an absolute. The film wants to be a character study and
deal with sexual issues, but the spiritual side has the Christian/Judeo ideas
clash with the Greek ones with its many gods and too much is left unexplored
considering the nearly two-hours the film runs.
Cheers to Laurent Lucas’ bold performance in the title role, with good
acting all around.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is consistent, but that includes detail
limits. Josée Deshaies’s cinematography
is not bad, though. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo has no major surrounds and features some nice Classical Music
placement. The film was a theatrical DTS
and Dolby release, so we have to assume it sounded better than this. Maybe a later HD version will have both 5.1
tracks. Extras include cast interviews,
director interview and the original trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
