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Masterful Cinema

Let's be realistic.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I was initially not optimistic about this thriller. The unappealing cover picture plus the IMDb synopsis and mixed reviews lead me to be rather dubious about watching it. Also I'd seen the superficially similar and awful Mascara (1987) which covers some of the same ground, namely, a Belgian location, corrupt police, serial killers targeting trans prostitutes, and opera. I'm very glad I did watch Mauvais Genre though; this is an excellent and original thriller.The lead character in the film is Bo (played by Robinson Stevenin) who comes from a haute bourgeoisie Belgian family and whose father is a famous and politically well connected doctor. The twenty year old Bo is now living in reduced circumstances in a seedy part of Brussels and working in a cabaret after becoming estranged from her Father and her mother having committed suicide. Most of her friends now are prostitutes (though note that the IMDb synopsis is incorrect in saying Bo is a prostitute; she isn't).The film opens with Bo's father being arrested for molestation and it's also at that point we learn that Bo is trans. The investigation of Bo's father forms a tightly contained subplot which adds depth to the main serial killer story.The police's treatment of Bo and her friends range from the over familiar and intimidating to violence and worse. The senior policeman on the case, Huysmans played by Richard Bohringer, is excellently sinister. You never really know what his angle on all this is until the very end. He is in a power struggle with another senior policeman, Pryzuski (Stéphane de Groot). It's good cop bad cop or is it really bad cop bad cop? It's made clear throughout the film how socially privileged Bo was and to some extent still is. She regularly intellectually outmanoeuvres the police. Huysman is constantly going on about how incredibly intelligent Bo is and at one point Huyman actually says to Bo "You could be a famous doctor, lawyer or prosecutor. Society needs you." However, Bo still has charm, good looks, and 'Bon Chic Bon Genre' style.At heart Mauvais Genre is a fairly traditional thriller and all the better for it. There are lots of maguffins and red herrings.As the film progresses Bo starts a relationship with her abusive neighbour Johnny. Robinson Stevenin didn't really manage to convince me in his portrayal that Bo was falling obsessively in love with a man who treats her very badly. That was on of the films few weak points. The other was that Bo really can't walk in heels and keeps falling over throughout the film. This gets really distracting after a while. The idea that someone as together as Bo wouldn't be able to walk in heels seems unlikely. It seems to be a crude cinematic device to show that "Bo is not a 'real' woman" and really belongs in Carry On Films or the Dick Emery show.Rather amusingly if you believe this film and Mascara everyone in Belgium seems to like opera and senior policemen have offices which look like art galleries and museums.Overall this is a very enjoyable film. In particular if you like LGBT cinema then this is an absolutely must see. I watch a lot of LGBT cinema and can't think of another film with such a strong trans character as a lead.

I didn't plan to write a comment, but there are only five, and all their ratings are high. I totally disagree with them, therefore, I wrote the following comment.I don't speak French, so I had to watch the subtitle. I checked out the DVD from a local library. The first half of movie was fine, but the subtitle starts to appear about 5 seconds later than the actual dialog. So it was getting confusing to tell who said what.There were all kinds of people who got killed with different backgrounds. , they simple don't make much sense. It seems that director just made all those killings to make this movie more "interesting".For example, after a black guy was killed. The detective did not take a heart shaped box the first time he searched the house. The detective came back to that house the second time, and went directly to the place where the box was stored. How did the detective know about this box the second time, and if he already knew about it, why didn't he take it the first time? After a man was stabbed by the killer, Bo went to that apartment. The man pointed into his pants, Bo was able to get a roll of film. Instead of giving it to the police, s/he actually kept the film himself. What for? He is not the detective, and he doesn't know what is in the film, why would he wants to keep the film? Then he went to someone s/he knows, asked him to develop the film for him. And that guy didn't even bother to ask Bo why s/he has those graphic pictures?Overall, there were lots of scenes that don't make sense at all. It is a confusing movie.

" Transfixed" is a movie about the people who live on the outskirts of society. Isolated and frequently shunned by the rest of the world, trans-gender and transsexual people form their own family circle that mimics the bonds of the "ordinary" folk. That fragile little support system is shattered to pieces by the serial killer that targets members of their sisterhood. So far so good- but that's when the problems with this movie start. The director , experienced Francis Girod, seems little lost in this shifty world of cross-dressing hookers, hustlers and police informers. Somehow in a process the whole atmosphere of the movie becomes contrived and stilted. Like the matron of society slumming for cheap thrills in the underbelly of the city dressed in her Sunday best. The only possible way to make this kind of movie is to bravely plunge into this world. Dipping couple of toes just isn't enough.

The aria from Donizetti's 'L'elisir d'amore' plays a significant role throughout this fascinating, intelligent, well made thriller by Francis Girod based on a novel by Brigitte Aubert and adapted for the screen by Girod and Philippe Cougrand. 'The secret tear' takes on many meanings as this complex story set in Brussels unfolds in the same manner as 'Diabolique'. Only this film takes even more risks and succeeds resoundingly.Presented as simply the main character instead of an oddity, transsexual Bo (Robinson Stévenin) works as an entertainer in a drag club in Brussels. His best friends are other transsexuals, especially Maeva (William Nadylam), who perform with him. Some are also prostitutes and are falling prey to a serial killer who disfigures each of his victims in a vicious way. Bo, we learn, left home at age 13, unable to cope with sexual molestation from his father (Marcel Dossogne) and the suicide of his mother, and lives quietly in a humble apartment. Her interest is peaked when a handsome young Johnny (Stéphane Metzger) moves in next door and she fantasizes an affair with him. While Johnny appears to be infatuated with Bo, he has his dark side, living with a roommate with whom he provides sexual services for older unattractive but rich women.The police, headed by Huysmans (Richard Bohringer) investigate the serial killings and in some way Bo is always at the scene or is familiar with the victims. The story revolves around the cat and mouse game of surveillance and complications of information regarding the killing spree. An interesting sidebar shows Bo's father arrested for sexual harassment and Bo is interrogated by the police about his childhood traumas with his father. How Bo weaves through all of the events - longing for Johnny, attempts for a consignation with Johnny which teeters on the possible versus the sadistic, gay bashing, gaining courage to speak against his father, etc - is the maze the story pulls us through. The identity of the serial killer is successfully revealed at the very end of the film.The excitement of the suspense drama is heightened by Girod's stunning direction and by the completely convincing acting of Robinson Stévenin, but also by the superb characterizations by Richard Bohringer, Stéphane Metzger, William Nadylam, Frédéric Pellegeay, Ginette Garcin, Stéphane De Groodt, and Charlie Dupont. The musical score by Alexandre Desplat is one of this fine composer's best, and the cinematography by Thierry Jault finds just the right flavor of the seamy streets of Brussels to make the story as creepy as it should be. So with all this praise why only 8 stars for the DVD? The subtitles (the film is in French) are so out of sync with the film that they completely destroy the important conversations, so much so that many times the subtitles are finishing off a scene that is no longer on the screen! If these were corrected it would be clear to everyone why Robinson Stévenin won the French Cesar Award for best actor and why it is such a success for the daring director Francis Girod. Highly recommended...just be aware that the English subtitles will frustrate you - unless you speak French! Grady Harp