Francois Ozon's subversive The New Girlfriend is a film that defies conventional genre description, being part adulterous melodrama, part psycho-sexual thriller, and part gay romance, as the talented filmmaker uses these constructs to deliver a fascinating and profound study of sexual identity. The story itself is centered around Claire, a young woman who has just lost her best friend since childhood in Lea to a terrible accident. One day she drops by on her Lea's husband David, to see how he is doing, only to discover him dressed up is his deceased wife's outfit, feeding their young baby. In shock at first, Claire is reassured by David that Claire knew of his penchant for this sort of thing, and the two quickly become close, creating a female persona for David named Virginia. As time passes by, David finds himself able to identify much more with Virginia, leading to bewildering and adverse feelings in Claire. A film that seamlessly shifts between playful comedy, melodrama, and psychological horror, The New Girlfriend is a satire of sorts, as Ozon uses his subversive style to present a vivid exploration of sexuality, identity, and gender roles. Instead of being a film that screams "message" loud and clear to its audience, Ozon uses the various tropes of these genres, particularly melodrama and psychological horror, as a tool to comment on the absolute absurdity of our predefined gender roles in society, as the filmmaker almost seems to mock these ideals at times, with The New Girlfriend eventually becoming more of a subversive comedy than anything else. The two core performances by Romain Duris and Anais Demoustier are a key reason why this film succeeds on many levels, delivering sensitive performances that only help Ozon's film deliver an understanding film about the complexities of sexuality as it pertains not only to attraction but also identity. Ozon takes full advantage of themes and structure of this story-line, deceiving the viewer and playing with perception at times as he effectively blurs the lines of identity. In the end, the film has a conventional but important ending, which finds Claire introducing David, as Virginia, to her husband- an important indicator that Claire has fully embraced David's identity as Virginia, pinpointing the paramount importance of acceptance by others in these types of situations.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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