The 10-year relationship of a male-to-female transsexual with her lover.
You can hurtle countless misgivings at Laurence Anyways. It is mannered, pretentious and ragged and yet it is beautifully crafted and Melvil Poupaud (a late substitute for Louis Garrel) gives a touching performance as a character heroic in his determination to be true to himself. Love has rarely had such impossible obstacles to overcome.
Smug, insufferable and interminable.
It's hard to imagine that the prodigiously gifted Dolan is still in his early twenties. This is another work of marvellous maturity and assurance.
Laurence Anyways is a spectacular, often grating misfire, but it can't be faulted on playful, pastichey punk enthusiasm. There's arguably more sheer cinema in Laurence Anyways than in any other release this week – even if sheer cinema, much of the time, looks suspiciously like early Nineties MTV.
Dolan seals the deal. But only just.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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