Tiresia (2003)

Director: Bertrand Bonello

Screenplay: Bertrand Bonello and Luca Fazzi

Cast: Laurent Lucas as Terranova / Père François; Clara Choveaux as Tiresia I; Thiago Telès as Tiresia II; Célia Catalifo as Anna; Lou Castel as Charles; Alex Descas as Marignac; Fred Ulysse as Roberto

Who is Bernard Bonello? Among the troupe of directors, not of a specific country but with a tendency to be usually non-English cinema filmmakers, who are not the most well known but are able to sustain long careers with few gaps in their film productions. Directors with all their films, even the flawed ones, being inherently of interest as they explore new genres for themselves or interesting directions, helped by the fact they will appear in film festivals and have physical media releases. They are a group I've become obsessed with having come to cinema in the late 2000s, when the likes of Artificial Eye and Tartan Films (who released Tiresia on DVD) were picking up world cinema and with a tendency to pick a lot of films clearly meant to appeal outside of drama cinema as much as snap up work with buzz around them.

Bonello has never really transitioned into very mainstream work, his highest profile in terms of this being his 2014 biopic of Yves Saint Laurent, his theatrical and short film work wildly varying beyond this. Whilst it could be at a cost of an auteurist voice and a risk of bad creative choices, all his films would intrigue an open mind. Between The Pornographer (2001), managing to cast French acting legend Jean-Pierre Léaud against explicit real sex, to Zombi Girl (2019), tackling the cultural perceptions of Haitian voodoo and white colonialism of Haiti, no one could argue Bonello is safe in his choices. Tiresia, which explicitly relates to the Greek legend of Tiresias, is Bonello possibly biting too close to Bruno Dumont, a man who arguably was part of this trend until (even with his comedies) he confirmed himself as a major auteur. Dumont's style was quiet, minimalist cinema which spoke frankly and at times with transgression, contemplating themes of religion and human existence from a very open minded atheist, one who eventually to everyone's bafflement move to full blown comedy, mini-series and a two part story of the Joan of Arc where the first film was scored to breakcore/metal oddball Igorrr¹. This is fully in that early era of Dumont's work in terms of inspiration.

Tiresia isn't as good as Dumont at his best, but it finds itself strangely relevant a decade later as transgender politics is a growing conversation, the movie surprisingly high minded on the subject rather than embarrassing considering the era it comes from. Tiresia begins with a man (Laurent Lucas) with an unhealthy view of female beauty, who kidnaps a female sex worker named Tiresia (Clara Choveaux). Tiresia is kept in a room for him to obsess over, only with it becoming apparent that she is a transgender woman, pre-operation, who when her hormone injections are not available leads to the film casting Thiago Telès as her alternative self. This double casting would probably not be done nowadays, but Tiresia is a fascinating film in hindsight which does more beyond this. The man himself does have a complex view of her when this is revealed, one which does reinterpret the Greek myth when Tiresia is blinded by ways of scissors here, but also is a film of two halves which takes a route with more nuisance for these two characters afterwards.

The man becomes more complicated when Tiresia does, in the sense whilst he is portrayed as a villain, when he blinds her with scissors and dumps her in a ditch, the tale itself is told in two halves and eventually returns to a cerebral confrontation between them. One that is beyond revenge to a spiritual place, especially as Tiresia, who is completely sympathetic, becomes prophetic and able to see the future as the mythological version did. Cared for by a young woman and in a position where the gift of prophecy is seen as a curse, followers eventually appear and the man is revealed to be a priest, one who will have to investigate this apparent miracle.

This is where Bruno Dumont stands out more - an atheist who is yet obsessed with Christianity and mysticism, he is also much more even-handed in having unsympathetic and problematic protagonists who are yet fascinating to follow because he has the extremeness of his minimalist style. His mix of this with magic realism even in his earliest work, like his obsession with levitation cast members off the ground, also had profoundness even when he had it later in a comedy for a joke. Where Bonello succeeds himself, whilst Tiresia falters in its tone and execution at times, is the contemplation of its unique premise.

A reoccurring vision of Tiresia, as played by Clara Choveaux, on a bed with a man and a woman in the midst of coitus, far from a crass undercutting of the character's transgenderism, has a remarkable sensuality as well as symbolises her position, evolving into a much more complicated character as we move along and find out moments such as her coming from Brazil as flashbacks show. The eventual return of the man, forcing him into reflection on his transgression, is a hell of a lot more progressive in hindsight than if the film just punished him. Really where the film had to improve, left as a minor film of immense worth, is that the actual end does dissipate like vapour without impact. The young woman who finds Tiresia isn't given as much time to be fleshed out as one would hope, and the two act structure does lean more to the first act than fully embracing the Greek legend of inspiration which fully comes forth in the second half. More so as it brings in a character becoming pregnant, becoming a Virgin Mary even if not a virginal birth with a Messiah as a child; Dumont would have made that aspect much more detailed and meaningful than this is, rather than something abrupt.

Aesthetically, it's a slow burn. Stripped down in aesthetic to the point it does have a tangible style of mood that helps considerably. Dumont would have used more non-actors, whilst here there are many figures that are prolific in European cinema, everyone nonetheless succeeding. There is also so much here that stands out, so that ultimately Tiresia the film is also still compelling. The passing scenes in woodland where sex workers parade in elaborate costumes, but act like bored employees, have an odd matter-of-factness that is refreshing; on the opposite spectrum, the aforementioned images of the threesome, and all the loaded nature of that symbolism also stands out. An odd decision to have a French equivalent of a hedgehog, with bigger ears, as a reoccurring image, in the back garden of the man's house where he keeps Tiresia locked up, is an oddly amusing touch until it ends in tragedy. An odd way to end the review, but these types of director are far more interesting when curious touches like this appear, fascinating me for their virtues and that even these touches, among their main ideas, stand out. Throughout his career, just reading the synopsis of all of Bernard Bonello's films, even the short length work, offer a cavalcade of fascinating subject matter, and it helps as well even with a flawed work like Tiresia that even odd creative decisions like that one I'm closing one is something to admire. That's a good sign for any artistic figure as it means you will pay attention to the bigger meanings more too.

Abstract Spectrum: Minimalist

Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None

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1) Oh, I wish Dumont's later films were actually more readily available in the United Kingdom. Somehow, and this has happened to Bonello too a couple of times, the UK has been starved of titles that have had good releases in the United States for inexplicable reasons.