Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The New Girlfriend Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 25, 2016

We’re still evidently in a—(throat clearing)—transitional stage of understanding and tolerance when it comes to gender identity issues, including everything from "simple" homosexuality, to perhaps more complex issues like transvestism and transsexualism, as potentially nowhere better illustrated by the recent probably thoughtless internet meme showing the horrific images of Caitlyn Jenner’s auto accident in Malibu (one which killed another driver) with the subtitle, “Guess it’s true what they say about women drivers”. If it’s a given that humans are still in a “learning phase” (so to speak) about transsexualism in this particular instance and gender identity issues more generally, one might think that François Ozon’s The New Girlfriend might act as a primer of sorts, for it deals in a surprisingly straightforward and unsensationalistic way with a potentially “touchy” subject matter. Ozon has regularly pushed the envelope in terms of portraying various characters splayed across the spectrum of human sexuality, and the director seems unusually able to blend whimsy with something a bit darker, even menacing, at times, as evidenced by such disparate films as Swimming Pool and 8 Women. Ozon can also tend to be deliberately obfuscatory at times, as I mentioned in the Blu-ray.com In The House Blu-ray review, something that may tend to keep some audience members at arm’s length from an emotional tether to what’s going on up on the silver screen. That opaque tendency is largely absent from The New Girlfriend, but some (probably older) viewers may still chafe at its central conceit of a mourning widower who is revealed to be (at the least) a “cross dresser” if not someone in need of gender reassignment surgery.

The first ten minutes or so of The New Girlfriend are a model of clear, concise exposition, as Ozon very quickly offers up not just the death of a character named Laura (Isild Le Besco), but the devastating grief that is felt by her lifelong best friend, Claire (Anaïs Demoustier). In a montage tracing the duo’s history together from childhood, it’s made clear that Claire and Laura were sisters in all but genetics, and as the opening sequence comes to an end with Laura’s burial, it’s also made clear that Claire feels an almost karmic bond to watch over Laura’s newborn girl Lucie and her grieving husband David (Romain Duris). Ozon’s screenplay (adapting a short story by British mystery author Ruth Rendell) initially seems to want to concentrate on the psychological angst Claire feels after Laura’s death, where she’s almost afraid to approach David and Lucie, not knowing what emotional obstacles might accrue if she were actually to reach out to them. However, once Claire does muster up her courage to go to David’s house, the film makes a rather startling turn (albeit one handled in a lowkey manner), when Claire walks in to find David in a blonde wig, makeup and female apparel, tending to little Lucie.

It’s a fascinating moment in a film which has perhaps indulged in a bit of misdirection up to that point. Claire is shocked, perhaps even repulsed, but David (after changing backing into “himself”) urges her to try to understand he’s been dealing with a deep desire to dress as a woman for years, something that Laura evidently understood and tolerated if not outright encouraged. That denouement at least deprives Claire of the right to feel umbrage on the part of her dear, departed friend, and it also allows the film to start exploring ideas of gender identity and social integration for those who don’t fit the “norm”.

Ozon might be trafficking in proto-Chabrol territory with The New Girlfriend (and Chabrol himself famously adapted two Rendell offerings with La Cérémonie and The Bridesmaid), ripping the scab off of a polite, well manicured French middle class to expose some roiling dysfunctions underneath. That tendency gives the second and third acts of The New Girlfriend their increasingly askew emotional appeal, but Ozon tends to at least slightly undercut himself by indulging in some patent whimsy, as Claire establishes a “relationship” with David’s feminine alter ego, now dubbed Virginia. There’s a kind of bizarre disconnect between the simmering (and quasi sexual) tensions of the middle part of the film and depictions of the two “girls” out shopping that never quite settle as organically as one might hope.

While perhaps at least intermittently at tonal odds with itself, The New Girlfriend is grounded by a pair of at least relatively believable performances by Duris and Demoustier. I couldn’t help but think of the short-lived cult sitcom starring Peter Kastner as a cross-dressing “super model” in The Ugliest Girl in Town while watching Duris’ bucktoothed face festooned with lots of makeup and surrounded by a blonde wig, but from a pure performance standpoint, he hits a lot of the right notes in detailing David’s desire to “be himself” (and/or “herself”). Demoustier has a less showy role (obviously), and is forced to make it through some less well written scenes with Claire’s husband Gilles (Raphaël Personnaz), but she manages to make the segues between near farce and more realistic drama if not outright tragedy feel organic.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf had a perhaps slightly more positive take on the film as a whole when he screened it during its theatrical exhibition. You can read his thoughts here.

The New Girlfriend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The New Girlfriend is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. According to the IMDb, this was shot on 35mm and it has a nicely "thick" texture a lot of the time, albeit one whose at times slightly clumpy grain field can marginally affect detail levels. The film is seemingly naturally lit a good deal of the time, and as a result there are no overtly "showy" moments. That said, the film is often quite scenic, visiting various beautiful locations and offering good depth of field and precise looks at elements like leaves and grass in some outdoor sequences. Colors aren't especially vivid, save for individual elements like a bright red sports car, but look very accurate and are decently saturated. Close-ups reveal great fine detail (see screenshot 14). Aside from some very slight issues with grain resolution, things look great here, albeit within a kind of restrained, tamped down ambience that doesn't deliver a big "wow" factor.

The New Girlfriend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The New Girlfriend's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (in the original French, with optional English subtitles) is, much like the video presentation, completely fine without ever really rising to "wow" heights. Surround activity tends to be limited to things like ambient environmental sounds when, for instance, Claire is tooling around in her car or out for a run. The film's score by Philippe Rombi (one perhaps a bit less flashy than the one I discussed in Ozon's In The House Blu-ray review ) also resides quite comfortably in the side and rear channels and helps to support a couple of quasi-montage sequences. Dialogue is always offered cleanly and clearly and is typically very well prioritized.

The New Girlfriend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Romain Duris: Portrait of an "Actress" (1080p; 45:47) offers some good behind the scenes footage and interviews.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 10:24)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:18)

The New Girlfriend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I kind of wish Ozon had either gone full on farce mode or kept things more resolutely realistic, rather than the kind of "one from Column A, one from Column B" approach that's on display here. The film tends to lurch a bit uneasily between some of its comedic elements and more histrionic dramatic developments, especially in a needlessly overwrought climax. That said, performances are excellent and the film is certainly unusual. Ozon fans will almost certainly be pleased, and those who aren't that familiar with Ozon's work may actually find this surprisingly accessible despite its kind of odd central conceit. Recommended.