Laurence Anyways

This is one of the most impressed movies that I've ever seen. This movie is about a couple, Laurence and Fred, who love each other and have been together for long time. One day, Laurence opens his heart to her that he wants to be woman. Fred confuses and thinks about their future. Then, Fred decides she becomes Laurence's best friend and she teaches him how to make up, but they are troubled by prejudices of the society. Also, the mood of this movie and camera-work are fresh. Many colors are used and music invites us into story, so we can't be bored in spite of complex story. The director of this movie, Xavier Dolan, became my favorite one after I watched this movie, and this is the most favorite one of his movies. Therefore, I want everyone to see this. I recommend very much, but you will be tired a little because you are dragged very much.

My review is not gonna be long. It will not contain spoilers, either. I made an account on IMDb only to rate this movie and to write a short review, letting people know my opinion, so hopefully even more people will watch this movie.

The acting, the scenes, the music - everything was for me completely breathtaking. Yes, its a long movie - but it's not just a movie, or one story out of an entire life - it's LIFE, it's several chapters. Of course it's long... it has to be. I, myself, wanted to keep watching when it was over. Because it wasn't over. The story hadn't finished. There was more. This is not a movie to entertain people. This is real life, real characters... no bullshit... Many scenes, changing times, development of the different characters... Love, pain, laughter, sorrow. I enjoyed EVERY bit. I never write reviews on anything - this is my first one I ever made on a movie, book, etc... I just finished watching it, and it had me sitting on my sofa with tears streaming down my face.

Even though this movie is about a man who has the wish to become a woman, and even though the couple's struggle kind of revolves around that, I could identify so much with some of the things they go through together. It doesn't matter whether he is a transvestite or not... It reflects very familiar feelings, and I believe that people who have loved deeply, who have loved hard and fiercely, they will recognize these feelings too. And no matter what, this is a great movie to educate people with potential prejudice against transsexual men or women.

I hope that more people will watch it.

Great performance... left me with a feeling of joy and sadness, all in once. I really, really loved this movie. And I will be watching it again, no doubt...

Thank you for that.

It is Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan's third feature, after I KILLED MY MOTHER (2009, 7/10) and HEARTBEATS (2010, 5/10), the first one he doesn't hog a leading role for himself. LAURENCE ANYWAYS chronicles a 10 year up-and-down relationship between Laurence Alia (Poupaud), a man with GID (Gender Identity Disorder) and determines to dress up like a woman, and his girlfriend Fred Belair (Clément) from 1989 to the looming millennium.

Scale wise it is Dolan's boldest and most ambitious one (save his two subsequent films TOM AT THE FARM 2013 and MOMMY 2014, which I haven't seen yet), extending around 168 minutes, Dolan strenuously spells out a panorama of struggles of Laurence and Fred, for the former, it is a life-or-death judgement call, without opening up to embrace his true id, life is pointless and meaningless to him; more thoughtfully and unconventionally, the film generously grants maximum space for the latter, to zoom in on Fred's striving for breath and co-existence when her world is equally capsized by the blunt decision made by the man she loves.

As early as the opening introduction of Laurence through onlookers (deceitfully) spontaneous responses till the very end, Laurence and Fred separately exit the barroom with posh slo-motion against the brisk gust, stylistically Dolan comes much more at ease with his ostentatious aesthetic codes, Day-Glo disco, subdued lighting, kitschy ornamentation, pop art, avant-garde tableaux vivant, chic party, campy or crammed locale confinement, highlighted by Les Five Roses, and all aided by a killing mixtape (from Fever Ray, The Cure, Visage to Moderat) to leaven the zeitgeist and propel the storytelling.

It is a pure melodrama, spearheaded by two impressive leading performances by Poupaud and Clément, especially the latter, her explosion which bookends the midway of this drawn-out feature is intensely electrifying and utterly breathtaking. She also impeccably handles the unvoiced implosion of her character, shepherded by hairstylists, costume designers and Dolan's unerring determination to lay bare all the subtlety with abstract symbolism and his own perceptive sensations.

Most of the time, Poupaud conceals his handsome contour under a ridiculous wig, heavy make- up doesn't help either, but nothing can hide Laurence's intrepidity, sensitivity and charm through his less flamboyant but more realistic rendition. Nathalie Baye, plays Laurence's negligent mother, pungently bespeaks both parenting and gender-identity are not innately fitting to anyone.

LAURENCE ANYWAYS is a solid corroboration of Dolan's prowess to explore and conquer a wider scope out of his comfort zone, visually distinct and artistically eclectic, although in any event he needs to be polished up a little bit and get himself out of the self-indulgent pitfall, let me just suppress a dash of jealousy and get ready to rejoice in the wunderkind's another output, hopefully is the much-anticipated TOM AT THE FARM.

With this film, Xavier Dolan confirms his excellent style. The starring is incredibly well-chosen (distinction for the actress). A photography without mistake, there are numbers of beautiful shots. And too a good soundtrack, that is very eclectic (french's or qubecois's songs, classical's songs as Brahm or Bethoveen, or rock ballads), and first and foremost an original screenplay. In fact, I found the plot very interesting because I don't know film about the transsexualism. For a discovery, we can't dream a better movie.

So, check out his film (Les amours imaginaires, J'ai tué ma mère are too to discover).

A young film maker watch this space. The Quebecois's cinema too.

Coming out as a transsexual proves challenging for a high school teacher in this French Canadian drama directed by Xavier Dolan and starring Melvil Poupaud. He undergoes predictable trouble at work (though curiously from his colleagues - not his pupils who respect his courage) and ends up losing his job. His parents also expectedly reject him and he has trouble dining in public without someone making some comment about his looks. Not so expected though is Poupaud's long term girlfriend's decision to stick with him throughout his ordeal, and Suzanne Clément is superb as the young lady in question who, despite all doubts, claims to still need his "forearms". Set over a ten year period, the couple's relationship is tested at several points but their connection is absolutely undeniable and there is a potent scene in which they encounter another trans couple who claim that "gender is shallow" and it is "the person" who matters. Truer relationship advice may have never been said, but it is to the film's credit that it is does everything to challenge this, highlighting how difficult is for one to achieve happiness in a world full of societal expectations and heavily drilled norms. At nearly three hours long, the film runs a little long and is never quite as intense at it could be. The extra runtime allows Dolan to experiment with some neat stylistically touches though as things fall on the actors in slow motion to the tune of serene music. This in turn gives the film a dreamlike quality - rather fitting for a film about a human being realising his/her dreams beyond gender stereotyping.