Mauvais genres

Francis Girod began his career with a scandalous movie:Romy Schneider,who was looked upon as a Madonna by most of the FRench audience became one the most disgusting criminals an actress had ever played.Since he watered down his wine and subsequent works were much more moderate ("Lacenaire""la banquière") when they were not drastic failures ("descente aux enfers" " passage à l'acte".

"Mauvais genres " is a return to form for Girod.He has never been so nefarious since his debut.Two actors give stunning performances:Robinson Stevenin plays a transvestite ,a part so difficult -he is on the screen from the beginning to the end- it's a miracle he could pull it off so brilliantly.But Richard Bohringer's cop is even more impressive:his character speaks in a croaking voice ,close to a whisper.Meava the transsexual is probably the most humane character in the whole movie.

The plot is so complex it will demand several viewings.A lot of elements interfere :a serial killer who kills male and female prostitutes ,a transvestite whose father has just been arrested for pedophilia -which might or might not lead his son (Stevenin) whom he abused to lead such a life-; the "sens interdit" (one-way street) gay club where you can see a drag act , the "twin duet" featured in Demy 's "les demoiselles de Rochefort" ;elements of melodrama : the past of the characters recalls those endless novels from the nineteenth century when the characters did not know exactly who their father was;and a love the hero feels for a so-called straight mover (who's also a gigolo) .

But more than the story,it's the atmosphere which matters.Girod creates a destabilizing world which leaves the viewer panting for breath.And it's not sexist.The monsters are not necessarily the non-straights.

" Transfixed" is a movie about the people who live on the outskirts of society. Isolated and frequently shunned by the rest of the world, trans-gender and transsexual people form their own family circle that mimics the bonds of the "ordinary" folk. That fragile little support system is shattered to pieces by the serial killer that targets members of their sisterhood. So far so good- but that's when the problems with this movie start. The director , experienced Francis Girod, seems little lost in this shifty world of cross-dressing hookers, hustlers and police informers. Somehow in a process the whole atmosphere of the movie becomes contrived and stilted. Like the matron of society slumming for cheap thrills in the underbelly of the city dressed in her Sunday best. The only possible way to make this kind of movie is to bravely plunge into this world. Dipping couple of toes just isn't enough.

A great thriller, the film kept me guessing till the end. Robinson Stevenin was fantastic as Bo Ancellin. I saw the film when it came out in France and am glad somebody finally decided to bring it to the United States. Robinson Stevenin won a Cesar Award for his performance as a transvestite accused of a series of murders in Brussel's underground in this exciting, murder mystery film. It's rare to see a film which features a trans-gendered character as the lead actor, especially in a film theatrically released in the United States. The director, Francis Girod did an excellent job bringing the story to life. There was never a dull moment in Transfixed. Two thumbs way up, see this film!

This film was recently recommended to me on a forum discussion concerning the best LGBT cinema. But Mauvais Genres is so good that I wouldn't say that it appeals only to such interest groups. It is excessively Hitchcockian (an adjective used far too often, but utterly justified in this case) in it's outlook. Indeed there are so many MacGuffins in this thriller involving props such as a microfilm or a heart-shaped box that you feel it edging almost into the territory of parody. As it is the movie stays at a more gleeful, vital, tone, revelling in homage. It is glossy enough for us to suggest that its tone comes from Hitchcock via de Palma. The music though seems directly inspired by such classic Hitchock scores as that in Vertigo.

There are in my opinion two characters in this movie of outstanding interest. First we have Bo, a transsexual entertainer, played by Robinson Stévenin, in what has to be one of the most outstanding performances that I have ever seen (winning the Cesar for best new actor). She is such an alive and beautiful person that it is truly painful when we see her subjected to violence. There is a subplot in the film concerning the fact that she was abused as a child and there are implications that her retreat into femininity is a coping strategy for dealing with that abuse. I'm in no way qualified to examine the risibility or otherwise of such claims, but certainly these thoughts may have been filtering through her mind and leading towards self-destructive behaviour.

The meat of the movie, which is only ostensibly a serial-killer thriller, is her love for Johnny, a clearly violent and handsome young man who has very mixed thoughts concerning transsexuals. Her love for him is so blind as to verge on self-immolation, her approaches undeterred by even a broken arm. I watch film to see excesses of emotions, and in her love for this psychotic individual, Bo's love becomes a fiery inferno that inundates her.

Johnny is also a very interesting character, he joined up in the foreign legion to see the tropics but, we are told, ended up waiting table at headquarters in Avignon. Metaphorically speaking perhaps that's what happens to most men in modern society. And you can certainly sense the frustration in this 'red-blooded' man for whom society is effectively a cage.

Watch this movie if you don't have better things to do.