Laurence Anyways
Canada, France
2012
159 Min
Color
1.33:1
French, English
Synopsis
Laurence, a young french teacher and soon-to- be-published author, enjoys an intense and mutually loving relationship with his fiancée, Fred. But on the day after his 30th birthday, Laurence confesses to Fred that he longs to become a woman, asking her to support him in this transformation. Despite her best efforts, Fred is too hurt by this development, and they break up. Each of them tries to build a new life, without thinking of the past. Five years later, Laurence sends a copy of his first book of poetry to Fred. –mk2
Director
Xavier Dolan
Xavier Dolan (born March 20, 1989), sometimes credited as Xavier Dolan-Tadros, is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. Formerly a child actor in films such as J’en suis!, Le marchand de sable and La forteresse suspendue and television series such as Omertà, La loi du silence, he attracted international attention when his first film as a director and screenwriter, J’ai tué ma mère, won three awards from the Director’s Fortnight program at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
After J’ai tué ma mère he directed his second feature film Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats), which was financed privately. It follows the infatuation of two friends with the same mysterious young man. Inevitably, their friendship suffers. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard category at the 63e Festival de Cannes in May 2010, to standing ovation.
Dolan says that he is planning his third film called Laurence any ways, about a transsexual… read more
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fleurare
29Apr13
I gave up after that unattractive woman from Heartbeats started ranting about literature and I remembered that I was watching a Dolan creation, but nothing worth thinking about or spending three hours of my precious time on. From what I can remember past the headache of attempting to blank this out of my memory, it was like his previous projects but a little less obnoxious. Less slo-mo, too! Little steps, Xavier.
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Eleni Ashton
7May13
yeah, um, that's the "unattractive woman's" character - she's an obnoxious loud mouth.
Keldon
26Apr13
"My film is an homage to the ultimate love story: ambitious, impossible, the love we want to be sensational, boundless, the love that we don’t dare hope for, the love that only cinema, books and art provide. Laurence Anyways is an homage to the time in my life, before I became a director, when I had to become a man."
Eleni Ashton likes this
captain
17Apr13
Wow. Nobody I follow has seen this? I feel hip for once :) Great film, especially if you get a chance to see it in the theater. It's not a dense, complex work, and it doesn't really get deep into transgender issues, but it is an eyepopping, fantastically crafted, fantastically acted, unique love story. Look forward to catching up on Dolan's first two
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Cannes 2012. Lineup
By David Hudson on April 19, 2012
Cronenberg, Resnais, Carax, Hong, Kiarostami, Reygadas, Wakamatsu, Miike…
Premiere's Cannes 2012 buzzomètre
By David Hudson on March 22, 2012
The French magazine places odds on over 30 titles: Will they make the Cannes 2012 lineup?
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Over-calculated revivalism mars an often touching transition story
By Nivolesco on July 19, 2012
It’s no accident that the undercut sported by Fred (Suzanne Clément), the spiky lifelong love of the titular Lawrence (Melvil Poupaud) in Xavier Dolan’s third feature, is the exact same style being… read review
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