The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye

Here is a portrait of a couple of very unusual lovers and their relationship. We follow their life together in New York City and on tour with Psychic TV, one of P-Orridge's bands. Despite the fact that these two are as freaky as can be, their union is a sweet and romantic one. They sought to eliminate their gender differences, and through plastic surgery and art, become one being, a pandrogyne. Still, it only presents part of their story, and it is all from P-Orridge's POV. What, for example, is the story with Genesis's kids, beyond them wishing he would buy them a car instead of new boobs for himself and his lover? And where did Lady Jaye come from, and how did she end up on her own at age 14? This does make me want to check out some of his music, even if his monotonous vocals are hardly attractive.

The story is intense, compelling, and extraordinary. Genesis loves Lady Jaye, and she loves him. Instead of having children, they decide to artificially alter themselves to fuse their identities, essentially mutating into surgically-enhanced twins. She gets rhinoplasty to mimic his nose. He gets breast implants and lip injections to look like her. Though not specifically mentioned, it's inferred that there are lots of drugs on board.

As a lover of performance art, I was excited and curious about the premise and execution of this "pandrogynous" experiment. Then how did the director make such a bland, slow, and boring movie? Why was there so much concert footage? Seriously, it felt like there was 20 minutes near the end that was just industrial garage-band noise. And since this story is essentially a love story, why are there no interviews with Lady Jaye? I realize that her availability was unexpectedly limited, but there's lots and lots if footage of her, but never her voice or perspective.

This film was disappointing and tedious, and could have been so much more.