Tiresia (2003)

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Avg Rating: 4.1 / 5. Voted: 55

No one cared thus far. Do you?


AKA:
Directed by: Bertrand Bonello
Starring: Laurent Lucas (Captor/Priest), Clara Choveaux (Tiresia 1), Thiago Teles (Tiresia 2), Celia Catalifo (Anna), Lou Castel (Charles)
Country: France; Effed Up European Cinema
Language: French (Eng Subs); Effed Up French Movies
Runtime: 01:50:58
Genres: Transsexual, Captivity, Religioous angle, Gruesome, Prostitution

Plot – Spoilers:
A disturbed Frenchman who obsessively prefers duplicates or mutations over the original, holds a transsexual prostitute Tiresia captive in his dreary home. She in turn responds to his passive dominance and control with passivity and makes no attempt to leave apart from shrieking early on. The man is spellbound at times by her and gets involuntary tremors while watching her nude, especially when her cock is on show. But he refuses to touch her for the longest while.

Eventually reality hits, as Tiresia without her hormones begins to look more and more male and the man can’t bear to have someone like that around him anymore. The cracked rear windshield of his car suggests he’s done this before and he dumps the repulsive being on a country road, but not before depriving it of something. (In another shot of the car, there doesn’t appear to be a crack, which could be a goof or just another annoying attempt at adding to the general confusion within the film)

Tiresia is then rescued by a quiet, perhaps mute teenager, and begins living in her care as a male. But the trauma endured snaps something, and he now finds himself with clairvoyant powers which brings local fame.

Random (Spoilers continue):
Based on the Greek myth of Tiresias who through a curse was transformed into a woman with prophetic powers when he disturbed a couple of mating snakes. A painting of a snake appears multiple times in the room where Tiresia is held captive, marking the beginning of her transformation back to male.

The actor playing Tiresia is actually a biological woman.

The same character of Tiresia is played by two different actors. In the spirit of keeping things opposite (in the Greek myth it’s m2f, here it’s transf2m), maybe the fact that the priest and the disturbed man are played by one actor – Laurent Lucas – suggests they are indeed two different characters. And almost to prevent us confirming this, we are also deprived of seeing the priest’s immediate reactions to Tiresia narrating her experience as a prostitute blinded by her captor, though he is quite cool when meeting her for the first time.

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WakeMe94
WakeMe94
December 20, 2024 3:10 pm

I liked the movie; I love films that tackle raw subjects like prostitution and transsexuality without today’s oversensitivity. I just felt really sorry about Tiresia’s tragic fate at the end. I’d give it a 7/10. That said, despite my earlier comment, I would like to see a modern remake of this title, preferably with a real trans, since we have plenty of those these days.

True Patriot
True Patriot
November 10, 2024 1:47 am

I knew within the first 15 minutes I wasn’t going to like this movie. But I persevered to see if it got better – it did not.

I found the entire story to be rather unbelievable and overly dramatic, probably due to me being a devout atheist. I’ll admit I’m not at all a fan of Laurent Lucas but I found the person / people playing the role of Tiresia to be equally unlikeable.

Probably just not a good genre for me to attempt to appreciate.

2/10 – solid pass

Vivianae
Vivianae
September 10, 2024 9:08 am

It was a very good movie. Unexpectable good

NASTYGF
NASTYGF
August 1, 2024 10:38 pm

I wonder what happened, that scene where Anna’s hanging out with the boys …

iram
iram
June 20, 2024 7:04 am

loved it

transwoman, standing
transwoman, standing
June 10, 2024 10:30 am

I wonder if Laurent Lucas always looks like he wants to eat someone’s skin.

Biology Teacher
Biology Teacher
June 4, 2024 2:57 pm

“repulsive being” is a great way to describe trannies.

fear
fear
June 4, 2024 9:49 am

i love Laurent Lucas so much

fred fat
fred fat
June 3, 2024 6:46 pm

awaiting the censors approval – ironic on a shite like this

Old Mother Hubbard
Old Mother Hubbard
June 2, 2024 8:29 pm

Brilliant film. Bizarre story. Laurent Lucas is at his super creepy best in this one. 5 stars.

Side note: After I saw this for the first time a few years ago I looked in to films with the actress Clara Choveaux (who plays Tiresia 1). I came across the short film “Roommate” {2017) which is very good so I checked out some of Rodrigo Lages other films (he is the director of “Roommate”). There is a movie called “Lacuna” (2021) directed by Rodrigo Lages that I am dying to see but I can’t find it anywhere. Please let me know where I would be able to find this movie if you know. Thanks.

fred fat
fred fat
June 2, 2024 1:01 pm

this got very hairy but dont be blinded by the story line