Review of Laurence Anyways (2012) by Noah N — 05 Sep 2014

'Laurence Anyways' (2013) this is writer and director Xavier Dolan's third movie to what I like to call his 'Impossible Love Trilogy', which consist of his first three films: 'J'ai tué ma mère' (2008), 'Heartbeats' (2010), and now 'Laurence Anyways' (2013)! The story follows the relationship of Laurence Alia, a male-to-female transsexual (played by Melvil Poupaud), and her inamorata, Fred Belair (played by Suzanne Clément).

This is not a film that discusses transsexuality, but an introspective, romantic tale of two, and the ups and downs of their relationship. These are real-life characters who you really get to see develop in the course of the 2 hours and 41 minutes, (Clément's character possibly even more so than Poupaud's).

However, my major problem with this film is its overall running time. You take works like 'Avatar' (2009), 'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012), or any 'The Lord of The Rings' installments, which are all two hours plus and hold enough material to keep the audience undistracted from screen.

Unfortunately, there are tedious moments here that just lack substance. I know how Dolan loves a chic soundtrack to go along with his lavish imagery, but quite frankly these artistic sequences are ultimately distractions from the story.

Though this film really needs to be edited, it is STILL worthwhile for the top-notch acting delivered from the entire cast and especially from Suzanne Clément. If you have the patience to watch this, go right ahead!