Tiresia

Bertrand Bonello's Tiresia offers a modern retelling of the Greek myth of Tiresias—transformed by the gods from male to female, and then changed back after some years, but also blinded and given the power of prophecy. Here, Tiresia is a beautiful transsexual prostitute, an illegal Brazilian immigrant plying her trade in France. When a young man abducts her—keeping her captive in a chaste relationship (apparently because she represents all-encompassing beauty)—Tiresia begins reverting to masculine characteristics without her hormone treatments, after which the kidnapper blinds her and leaves her for dead. But Tiresia (now played by a man) is saved and nursed back to health by a mute girl, and soon finds himself endowed with the supernatural power of foresight, which brings him to the attention of the local parish priest. Tiresia appears to be intended as some sort of existential statement, but it's difficult to discern the point of it all (the kidnapper and the priest are played by the same actor, but whether they're one and the same character or the duplication is meant to be symbolic is never made clear). Glacially paced and featuring explicit nudity, abrupt and distracting music cues, and periodic shots of bubbling lava (accompanied by snatches of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony), Tiresia is the kind of folly that gives art films a bad name. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include interviews with Bonello and the leading actors. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing film.] (F. Swietek)