This is one of the most incompetently directed movies I have ever struggled through. The subject material is worthwhile, and it could and should have been a good movie.Unfortunately, again and again, scenes that have little point, for example Anna simply walking up a street, are filmed at some length, while important points in the plot , which ought to have been given some space, appear to have finished up on the cutting-room floor, so that the continuity is a shambles.The street-walking scenes in the Bois de Boulogne near the beginning go on and on, as do the early scenes of Tiresia's captivity, and are so tedious that the first time I tried to watch the film I gave up out of sheer boredom. When the film was re-screened on TV I managed to watch it all the way through, but only by fast-forwarding through the scenes where absolutely nothing was happening, or where the same information was given over and over, such as Tiresia's explanations about her/his precognition.The two roles (or it is one?) played by the male lead appear to have many viewers confused. Some commentators wonder why he played two roles, whereas others, like myself, took it that the abductor and priest were the same person. I did wonder why Tiresia failed to recognise him (and vice versa?) but I accepted that as just one more clumsy error in a pretentiously bad script.Given a better script, a competent director and a professional editor, this could have been a film worth watching.

Yesterday I saw "Tiresia" and I do not know what kind of magic this movie has to be so attractive. I saw six times the introduction, with the awesome allegro of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and only lava on the screen. The story is very weird, beginning with in the red light district of Paris, with many travesties, most of them Brazilian and speaking Portuguese, "working" on the street, and a sick guy wandering around the prostitutes. The strange voyeur kidnaps a Brazilian travesty and brings him home without having sex, recalling William Wyler's "The Collector". In this part, there is an explicit frontal nudity of the homosexual in a very shocking and dramatic scene but never aggressive. Then the movie becomes cruel, and the identity of the abductor is disclosed and the story has a strong plot point, like in David Lynch's "Lost Highway". Although being very irregular, this last part also hooks the attention of the viewer until the very last scene. "Tiresia" is bizarre, impressive, intriguing and attractive, but recommended for very specific audiences only. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Tiresia"

A slender allegory of Greek mythology's blind sex-shifting seer Tiresias, Bertrand Bonello's film might be a lot more enjoyable if it didn't strive so hard to be art.Tiresia is a Brazilian transsexual prostitute living illegally in Paris who is kidnapped by a psychopath with poet pretensions.Deprived of hormones, he reverts to the masculine (a female actor plays Tiresia 'before' and a male 'after'), is capriciously blinded by his captor and left for dead in remote woods. Found by a quiet country girl, Tiresia recovers and becomes a local legend after apparently transforming into an oracle with the ability to see the future.Cutting between the two actors in the lead seems an unnecessary contrivance, but isn't as confusing as sinister Laurent Lucas playing both the abductor and the parish priest who later persecutes Tiresia (but as both have a fetish for roses, maybe they're meant to be the same person?).A largely glacial pace and inserted footage of roiling lava rivers with excerpts of Beethoven's 7th Symphony thundering on the soundtrack signal Bonello's push for profundity but it's still an intriguing film with plenty of ideas and themes to examine.

VERY MINOR SPOILERSI am excited for two reasons - first, having moved to France I can now drown myself in French cinema. Secondly, this may be the first time that I have been the first to comment on a movie for IMDB. I might even actually be convincing you cinema-goers out there to see a film that I liked. How wonderfully,innocently exciting.And, yes - I am trying to persuade you to see this film. Watching Tiresia is not an easy Sunday night at your local multiplex, but it is a good film.Shocking, disturbing, horrifying in places, Tiresia is suberbly acted by a strong cast, with special note to both actors in the eponymous role. In places the camerawork is a little shoddy but this is easily overcome with dramatic set pieces and chilling imagery that will leave you with nightmares for weeks. Trust me.Tiresia, the story, is of a transexual prostitute who is captured and brutally stabbed, to survive and rebuild what remains of this character's seemingly hopeless existence. However the beauty in this film is not to be found in its story, but in the incredible transformation of Tiresia. Without wishing to reveal too much, watch carefully as the director forces us to see Tiresia change.I highly recommend this film, although you rednecks and scousers out there (you know who u are)might not find it at your local cinema. Hunt it down where you can. 8/10