La confusion des genres (2000)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ilan Duran Cohen

Writers:

Ilan Duran Cohen (writer)
Philippe Lasry (writer)

Release Date:

27 December 2000 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Plot:

No wonder Bisexual Attorney Alain is confused. He's bedding his female boss, his guilty of murder client...

Plot Keywords:

Bisexual | Hairdresser | Sewing Machine | Hospital | Gay Couple

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Pascal Greggory	...	Alain Bauman
Nathalie Richard	...	Laurence Albertini
Julie Gayet	...	Babette
Alain Bashung	...	Etienne
Vincent Martinez	...	Marc
Cyrille Thouvenin	...	Christophe
Marie Saint-Dizier	...	Marlène
Bulle Ogier	...	Laurence's Mother
Pierre Barrat	...	Laurence's Father
Nelly Borgeaud	...	Alain's Mother
Michel Bertay	...	M. Baumann, Alain's Father
Valérie Stroh	...	Patricia
Vincent Gauthier	...	Christophe's Father
Malik Faraoun	...	Karim
Michèle Brousse	...	Boss

Also Known As:

Confusion of Genders (International: English title)
Gender Confusion (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

94 min | Spain:97 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Spain:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud)

Company:

Alta Loma Films

Trivia:

Visa d'exploitation France : #97174

Amusing, very French comedy of ill humor and the bisexual life

The "confusion" here is more a plethora, an embarrassment of riches and of choices. At the center of every scene is bisexual (or is he just gay?) lawyer Alain (Pascal Greggory). Everybody wants him, or thinks he wants them -- handsome imprisoned murderer Marc (Vincent Martinez), cute gay boy Christophe (Cyrille Thouvenin), attractive and accomplished law partner Laurence (Nathalie Richard, who's more Alain's age); the prisoner's (former) girlfriend Babette (Julie Gayet); Marc's prison-mate Étienne (noted singer Alain Bashung) even gets amusingly involved at the end. Alain and his law partner are talking about marrying, and it's all practical and boring, except that it's impulsive too. Through it all Pascal Greggory has that bored, annoyed look he always has; but he registers a lot of other looks too -- he's a skillful movie actor and for good reason one of the busiest in France. This is very French, a sort of comedy of ill humor, sex, and indecision. The hilariously grumpy and irritable "haute bourgeoisie" relatives of Laurence and Alain who come into play when wedding bells are in the offing include the great Bulle Ogier as Laurence's mother. The various nude scenes aren't just titillation; they're all skillfully and sometimes hilariously illustrative of characters and situations and of Alain's "embarras du choix."

"La Confusion des genres" is dry and amusing and well paced and has an excellent cast but it's very French and you wouldn't necessarily expect it to go over well with Americans, and it didn't. US critics pretty much hated it. On Metacritic it got a 39. Many American viewers think it's pretentious and unfunny. They miss the witty but blunt dialogue (which all the French critics complement), and they don't appreciate Greggory, who's perfect here, or the delicately observed range of French social and personality types. This is as good a treatment of the pains and pleasures of the bisexual life as seen from the French 21st-century standpoint as, at the time, was John Schlesinger's very English (1971) "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; but as a movie it doesn't carry quite as much weight and clearly like some wines it does not travel well.

Doing the voice-over commentary in English for the American DVD didn't turn out very well either. Director Duran Cohen studied at NYU Film School and and is fluent, but he's paired with Greggory and Thouvenin, who're pretty tongue-tied, and the conversation never gets going. Why didn't they do it in French with subtitles as Kassovitz, Cassel, and Reno did so entertainingly for the US "Crimson Rivers" DVD? Then maybe they would have been more relaxed and talkative, as the "Crimson Rivers" team was, and something more informative would have resulted.