Movie Review - The New Girlfriend

The New Girlfriend **1/2 (out of 5) (R) No matter how far we’ve come on sexuality and gender issues, this subtitled French drama shows how little we really understand, much less accept. The tale is told by Claire. She met Laura at age seven, instantly forming a tight, lifelong bond. Laura was prettier and more popular. She married David; Claire married Gilles; the four were also close until Laura’s tragic death just after childbirth. Godmother Claire had sworn to look after David and the baby for her BFF. On a visit to their house, she was shocked to find David holding the baby while wearing a wig and Laura’s clothes.

David explained that Laura had always known he was a straight cross-dresser; he’d lost that impulse while they were together, but started again because it was comforting to the infant. Claire feels obliged to help keep the secret and try to balance that part of his nature with the paternal role he valued deeply enough to put his career on hold to devote full time to their child. He’d only dress like Laura at home, since discovery could cause his in-laws to sue for custody.

This little conspiracy generates a torrent of emotional upheaval among the three friends. Gilles is kept out of the loop for fear that he couldn’t “handle the truth”. Claire claims to have a new girlfriend named Virginia to explain some of her time with David in drag. They’d have some fun together as gal pals, but the subtext among the trio churns with conflicts and uncertainties crossing the spectrum from grief to levels of friendship, curiosity and desire. Everyone’s skating on thin ice covering uncharted waters.

Anais Demoustier’s adult Claire is an attractive woman, but less alluring than Laura, and arguably less so than Romain Duris’ David when dolled up as “Virginia”. The R rating is valid for thematic content and a few moments of nudity and sexuality. Even so, the film is far more subtle and psychological than lurid. Likable people are struggling realistically with issues they neither chose or desired, but must address, simply because that’s what real friends do with and for their closest friends.

The story is more slice-of-life than polemic. Hardcore social conservatives are less likely to gain insights than to have their heads explode. Keep that in mind when deciding whether to go...or who to invite. And why. (9/25/15)