Customer Reviews

Tiresia

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Note: French and Portuguese with English subtitles.

Synopsis: Teresia (Clara Choveaux) is an alluring transsexual from Brazil earning a living in France as a prostitute. She is picked up one night by a customer (Laurent Lucas) who takes her to a secluded location and makes her his prisoner. Fearful of what could happen if he is discovered he blinde Teresia and leaves her for dead secluded road Tiresia is rescued by a young girl named Anna (Celia Catalifo) who nursed him/her back to health. Upon healing Tiresia now possesses the gift of second sight and begins foretelling coming events to anyone who will listen.

Critique: I had high hopes for the '03 film `Tiresia'. While I'm not generally attracted to erotica, the fact that the storyline was based on a Greek myth that dealt with second sight immediately caught my attention. Unfortunately for my tastes this modern interpretation simply didn't life up to my expectations.

Positives:
- `Tiresia' is successful at creating a smoldering, brooding atmosphere and lots of existential angst that produces the feel and texture of a grander drama just beyond the veil of the mundane drama unfolding the screen.
- The soundtrack is highly original and perfectly enhances the perception of otherness.
- The production values are first rate throughout.
- There are also some very good, though subdued performances.

Negatives:
- The pace is exceedingly slow and the dialogue just isn't profound enough to keep the audience fully engaged.
- The storyline drifts into incoherency at times and the ending is unsatisfying.

Maybe it's just too nihilistic for me, but whether that's the reason or not it's definitely not something I'd care to watch again which is my bottom line in evaluating any film. However with that said I'm sure there's a body of film fans out there that would love this film.

My suggestion to anyone transgender interested in seeing this
film is not to do so. I myself am a sort of transgender known as
androgyne (someone with the gender identity of both a man and a
woman -- or neither) and I found this film to be stifling and
disspiriting. I think the effect would be worse for someone who is
transsexual. The transgender character is abused both physically
and spiritually in this film like I have seen in no other, and
the film's hyperrealistic visual style makes the suffering all
the more palpable.

I was drawn to the film because of the androgynous aspects of
the original myth of Tiresius, and thought that the film would
embellish and augment different things than it did. All it did,
really, was heighten the misery of the situations. Its attempts
at poetry are cynical, ironic, and paradoxical. As a morality
tale, it is appalling, and it reveals the sick underside of the
church in a whole new way.

THIS MOVIE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, BUT AS THEY SAY THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE, ACTUALLY ITS FOR A VERY SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE, BUT IF YOU ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO BE IN THIS SMALL GROUP YOU WILL BE IN FOR A GREAT EXPERIENCE.TURN UP THE VOLUME, SHUT THE LIGHTS AND JUST INMERSE YOURSELF INTO THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE FILM.