Laurence Anyways

It is Canadian prodigy Xavier Dolan's third feature, after I KILLED MY MOTHER (2009, 7/10) and HEARTBEATS (2010, 5/10), the first one he doesn't hog a leading role for himself. LAURENCE ANYWAYS chronicles a 10 year up-and-down relationship between Laurence Alia (Poupaud), a man with GID (Gender Identity Disorder) and determines to dress up like a woman, and his girlfriend Fred Belair (Clément) from 1989 to the looming millennium.

Scale wise it is Dolan's boldest and most ambitious one (save his two subsequent films TOM AT THE FARM 2013 and MOMMY 2014, which I haven't seen yet), extending around 168 minutes, Dolan strenuously spells out a panorama of struggles of Laurence and Fred, for the former, it is a life-or-death judgement call, without opening up to embrace his true id, life is pointless and meaningless to him; more thoughtfully and unconventionally, the film generously grants maximum space for the latter, to zoom in on Fred's striving for breath and co-existence when her world is equally capsized by the blunt decision made by the man she loves.

As early as the opening introduction of Laurence through onlookers (deceitfully) spontaneous responses till the very end, Laurence and Fred separately exit the barroom with posh slo-motion against the brisk gust, stylistically Dolan comes much more at ease with his ostentatious aesthetic codes, Day-Glo disco, subdued lighting, kitschy ornamentation, pop art, avant-garde tableaux vivant, chic party, campy or crammed locale confinement, highlighted by Les Five Roses, and all aided by a killing mixtape (from Fever Ray, The Cure, Visage to Moderat) to leaven the zeitgeist and propel the storytelling.

It is a pure melodrama, spearheaded by two impressive leading performances by Poupaud and Clément, especially the latter, her explosion which bookends the midway of this drawn-out feature is intensely electrifying and utterly breathtaking. She also impeccably handles the unvoiced implosion of her character, shepherded by hairstylists, costume designers and Dolan's unerring determination to lay bare all the subtlety with abstract symbolism and his own perceptive sensations.

Most of the time, Poupaud conceals his handsome contour under a ridiculous wig, heavy make- up doesn't help either, but nothing can hide Laurence's intrepidity, sensitivity and charm through his less flamboyant but more realistic rendition. Nathalie Baye, plays Laurence's negligent mother, pungently bespeaks both parenting and gender-identity are not innately fitting to anyone.

LAURENCE ANYWAYS is a solid corroboration of Dolan's prowess to explore and conquer a wider scope out of his comfort zone, visually distinct and artistically eclectic, although in any event he needs to be polished up a little bit and get himself out of the self-indulgent pitfall, let me just suppress a dash of jealousy and get ready to rejoice in the wunderkind's another output, hopefully is the much-anticipated TOM AT THE FARM.

My review is not gonna be long. It will not contain spoilers, either. I made an account on IMDb only to rate this movie and to write a short review, letting people know my opinion, so hopefully even more people will watch this movie.

The acting, the scenes, the music - everything was for me completely breathtaking. Yes, its a long movie - but it's not just a movie, or one story out of an entire life - it's LIFE, it's several chapters. Of course it's long... it has to be. I, myself, wanted to keep watching when it was over. Because it wasn't over. The story hadn't finished. There was more. This is not a movie to entertain people. This is real life, real characters... no bullshit... Many scenes, changing times, development of the different characters... Love, pain, laughter, sorrow. I enjoyed EVERY bit. I never write reviews on anything - this is my first one I ever made on a movie, book, etc... I just finished watching it, and it had me sitting on my sofa with tears streaming down my face.

Even though this movie is about a man who has the wish to become a woman, and even though the couple's struggle kind of revolves around that, I could identify so much with some of the things they go through together. It doesn't matter whether he is a transvestite or not... It reflects very familiar feelings, and I believe that people who have loved deeply, who have loved hard and fiercely, they will recognize these feelings too. And no matter what, this is a great movie to educate people with potential prejudice against transsexual men or women.

I hope that more people will watch it.

Great performance... left me with a feeling of joy and sadness, all in once. I really, really loved this movie. And I will be watching it again, no doubt...

Thank you for that.

This is a strong, disconcerting, highly unconventional movie that is not easy to review, or to watch. Although it is the story of a transgender experience and how it affects existing relationships, it is much more than that.

The movie is so strong and so complex--and so long--that I'm reluctant to say much more about it, partly because I don't know much else to say about it now. I'll need to watch it at least one more time before I'm ready even to think about doing that. I can say, though, that anyone expecting a love story about attractive and sympathetic characters will be severely disappointed and probably angry.

Anyone expecting a positive account of what it's like to change gender identity will probably be disappointed too. Anyone who needs the orderly development of a story and the relatable characters that are essential in Hollywood movies will be furious after having sat through these nearly three hours of VERY unconventional and challenging movie-making.

Finally, anyone who enjoys picking a movie apart and saying what he or she would do to make it better--eliminate peripheral characters, cut an hour off the movie's length, etc--will have a field day with this one. Unfortunately for them (and for anyone who takes what they say seriously), they will have denied themselves most of what this remarkable movie offers them.

The only way to receive what a movie (or any other work of art) offers is to accept it AS IT IS, on its own terms, WITHOUT trying to analyze it or change it to fit some outside notion ("outside" meaning in YOUR mind, as opposed to the author's) of what it OUGHT to be.

Instead of trying to make this (or any other) movie "better", either make your own movie or let go of your compulsion to control what happens to you as you watch this one. If you don't like the experience, that's fine, but if you really believe you could have done it better, you're a fool. You're impressing (and cheating) nobody but yourself and anybody else who takes you seriously.

But anyone who wants to see the latest work of an extraordinarily gifted and original young artist (Xavier Dolan, who is not yet 25 years old), whose genius is exploding into the world with such power and such speed that even he probably can't explain everything he does--and is willing to let go, to give up control of the experience and see what DOLAN is showing you instead of what you want to see--will be changed by this astonishing movie.

I finally watched Laurence Anyways & was not disappointed. The story had truth dripping from every fiber. I'm just blown away by the whole production. Some visually breathtaking scenes that create absolute magic are just the icing on the cake, top notch all the way. The acting was powerful & spot on, not once did I see the actors and not the characters. I'm not familiar with the director but based off of this movie I'm intrigued to look a little deeper.

Laurence Anyways should be destined to become a cult classic once it finds a wider audience, and not just in the gay/trans-gendered community. Calling it a potential cult classic doesn't do it justice though as it has the values of an Oscar contender in my opinion. If the story sounds in the least but interesting to you, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice to let this one pass you by. It's long at over two and a half hours but doesn't drag, it's one of those movies that you hope will never end.

Is this movie Canadian? The credits would suggest so, if it is it's the best Canadian movie I've ever scene (I'm Canadian & have seen more then a few). Don't let that sound like personal bias as I went in not knowing anything about it's production. If this movie doesn't (or hasn't) won awards then there is no justice in the world of cinema.

Fist of all, I should tell ya that I never been excited to watch a movie for a really long time; you know that excitement when you watch the trailer over 10 times in a row. yeah, I got excited this much to watch Laurence Anyways. and as a Xavier Dolan's huge fan that makes me know for sure that this movie is gonna be a pure art. and I don't even really care that much about directors. but DAMN! Xavier Dolan is the perfect man. No, I really mean it. he's gorgeous and talented in so many ways. Although all of the films he directs are about homosexuality, but what the heck! sometimes I hesitate to recommend any of his films to people I know cause I fear they might be narrow minded about all of the homosexuality stuff. Personally, I wouldn't mind watching a Xavier Dolan's film everyday and I'd still enjoy it as if it was the first time I watch it. I killed my mother, heartbeats, and now laurence anyways.

Laurence Anyways is almost 3hrs long. I thought I'd be bored. but somehow, something kept me watching. maybe it's wanting to know how the story ends. or maybe it's the great soundtrack, or the scenes that feed your soul visually. I mean really, why bother going to a photo gallery or a concert or whatsoever when you can simply watch Laurence Anyways or any film of Dolan's, and you'll find everything you love combined together beautifully. maybe I'm just exaggerating but that's because I'm this amazed.

At first, I thought Laurence and his girlfriend weren't' good looking enough, but anyone who watches this film will absolutely fall in love with every single character in the film. and somehow you'll find them extremely beautiful because you just feel their passion and stuff.

When I posted on twitter that I'm so excited to watch it. my friend replied saying, "it's a bold movie." well, I don't know how dirty films like the hangover are okay to watch and a masterpiece like this is "bold"! One thing I noticed about Xavier's Dolan films, is that he tries not to show us nude scenes, cause it ain't pretty. nobody wants to see butts or whatsoever, well, maybe perverts want to, but that's not the point. that is to say, even sex scenes are somehow beautiful and amazing, like the sex scene in 'I killed my mother' with all the painting and the sad sex desperate sex scenes in 'heartbeats'. you can clearly understand what Dolan is implying. In Laurence Anyways, Dolan portrays the relationship between Laurence and his girlfriend as a happy couple who are madly in love with each other, before they gradually collapse. What I'm truing to say here is that Dolan never fails at impressing his audience.

The soundtrack was painfully amazing, as always. the film stats with a song by 'fever ray' which made me realize that Dolan is a fan of this band. yeah? you remember the scene in the woods in 'heartbeats'? No? Okay. I swear if I had to steal one thing from Xavie Dolan it'd be his ipod or iphone or whatsoever. the man has an amazing taste in music.

When I done watching this film, I realized that 3 hours weren't enough. I wouldn't mind if it was 10 hours long or a series with a thousand seasons. it's just pure perfection. you know when you watch a perfect film that is so perfect to the extent that you wouldn't mind if it ends after only 5 minutes or in the middle of it because it's so perfect, and whatever the end is it'd still be great and perfect. yeah, Laurence Anyways is one of those films. and I'm still happy and impressed with the ending scene. the song was oh-my-god amazing. it's like it came into my soul and said hi and settled there. I can never get bored watching the ending scene; so simple yet perfect.

And before I forget, I love the almost 5 seconds Xavier appeared in the party scene. yeah keep it up babes.

In short, Laurence Anyways is 3 hours long, BUT, it's 3 hours of love, joy, regrets, tears, emotions, passion, and XAVIER DOLAN'S PERFECTION. Go watch it! and if you watch it and hate it then I'll hate you back.

Thank you