Tiresia (2003)

Touches You

Awesome Movie

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is one of the most incompetently directed movies I have ever struggled through. The subject material is worthwhile, and it could and should have been a good movie.Unfortunately, again and again, scenes that have little point, for example Anna simply walking up a street, are filmed at some length, while important points in the plot , which ought to have been given some space, appear to have finished up on the cutting-room floor, so that the continuity is a shambles.The street-walking scenes in the Bois de Boulogne near the beginning go on and on, as do the early scenes of Tiresia's captivity, and are so tedious that the first time I tried to watch the film I gave up out of sheer boredom. When the film was re-screened on TV I managed to watch it all the way through, but only by fast-forwarding through the scenes where absolutely nothing was happening, or where the same information was given over and over, such as Tiresia's explanations about her/his precognition.The two roles (or it is one?) played by the male lead appear to have many viewers confused. Some commentators wonder why he played two roles, whereas others, like myself, took it that the abductor and priest were the same person. I did wonder why Tiresia failed to recognise him (and vice versa?) but I accepted that as just one more clumsy error in a pretentiously bad script.Given a better script, a competent director and a professional editor, this could have been a film worth watching.

I'll never forget this movie I've seen with my boyfriend by chance, one night, on cable TV. Beginning with the highest symphony ever made (Beethoven's 7th), a burning volcano, then the cold and frightening voice of Lucas (one of the best french actors)...you just have to let yourself go in this symphonic movie, in between calm and tough unexpected moments of violence. So you stay nervous till the end, and even if you know a part of the key of the mystery before its end, it doesn't matter, as the actors keep you under their control. I wont tell more about this piece of pure art, to keep its secret. Just watch it, no matter where and how !

Other than good, bad or indifferent it's difficult to classify this one. Okay, it's based on a Myth so the director needs to find modern equivalents but this still leaves unanswered questions. Number one must be why Laurent Lucas picked this particular hooker to kidnap. There's no indication that they had met previously and by extension that Laurent would know Tiresia was a pre-op transsexual. Number two, why do none of her hooker colleagues come looking for her and/or report her missing; given the precarious nature of sex-with-strangers it's reasonable to suppose that hookers write down and/or memorise the numbers of the cars they and their colleagues get into. Number three, where does Lucas get his money? He appears to have no job yet lives in a large several storey house - albeit dilapidated - and drives a car without a visible source of income. To these can be added others such as what, if any symbolic meaning has the hedgehog in Laurent's garden which he is constantly feeding and why - other than the fact that it fits the original myth - does he opt to blind Tiresia rather than killing her outright or breaking say an arm or a leg. Then we can throw in why does Laurent double the role of a priest in the second half of the film. Though I kept watching til the end these and other questions punctuated the viewing throughout, not the best sign for a filmmaker whose objective surely is to make you forget you're watching a film.

Why did this film keep me up until 6 AM this morning?? Why is this film still playing over in my head? The plot(based on a Greek mythological tale) in itself is conceptually humanistic, and decidedly modern in its themes. The plot plays out in a modest tempo, allowing the viewer to soak it all in. The film has a multitude of richness. Something shines, something shocks, something frightens, something speaks, something is seen. One of the most interesting works of cinema I have seen in a number of years, Tiresia is a challenging, disturbing yet rewarding watch. The visual language is compelling(some scenes are staged to look like an oil painting painted by Velasquez taking a surrealistic turn, others look like sketches from a Dali nightmare) but the real heart of the film beats out of the sublime performances. Brave actors who put their bodies and soul on display. Parts of the film leave you feeling voyeuristic, like watching something you know you shouldn't be but can't turn away from. Highly Recommended for those who prefer a steak of a film to a bucket of stale popcorn.