Representations of homosexuality in 1990s mainstream French cinema Cristina Johnston

Abstract
This paper will consider recent developments in depictions of homosexuality in mainstream French cinema of the second half of the 1990s against, and as both reaction to and reection of, a rapidly evolving social and political backdrop. Alongside contemporary political debates on gay rights, antidiscrimination laws and the PaCS, on-screen visibility of the gay community in France has developed from an apparent concentration on sexuality and sexual activity to a wider, more accessible consideration and depiction of gay issues within mainstream French culture and society. Focusing on four lms (Josiane Balaskos Gazon maudit, Alain Berliners Ma vie en rose, Valrie Lemerciers Le Derrire and Gabriel Aghions Belle Maman), this article will examine, on the one hand, representation of such gay interest issues as gay parenting, the PaCS and questions of transgender and, on the other hand, the emergence of an apparent trend in recent French mainstream comedies to highlight, whether explicitly or implicitly, questions related to gender construction and gender identity. Before beginning to examine the question of representations of homosexuality in recent French mainstream cinema, it would be useful to have an overview of the sociopolitical developments in French gay life against which these representations are played out. Ofcial recognition of gay and lesbian couples, increasing visibility of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities and individuals, and a simultaneous increase in the audibility of homo- and lesbophobia, and gay parenting: debate around such gay interest topics has evolved greatly throughout the 1990s and has become a regular feature, not only of the pink press, but indeed national, mainstream media. Newspapers such as Le Monde and Libration have given extensive coverage to the above issues, publishing detailed supplements on the recent Pacte civil de solidarit (PaCS) legislation or Gay Pride events, the television channel Canal Plus broadcasts an annual Gay Night to coincide with Gay Pride and, from news programmes to sitcoms via chat shows and documentaries, there is evidence of an increasing visibility of homosexuals in the media (Anon. 2000: 25). Such discussion surrounding gay interest topics may, previously, have been considered the exclusive domain of gay communities and groups but such varied and increased coverage has meant that they have developed into a more fundamental part of a consideration of the general evolution of contemporary society and, for example, the role of the family within society. Perhaps the most important development has been the introduction of the PaCS in November 1999. While not exclusively applicable to gay partners, the PaCS enables adult couples, irrespective of gender, to sign an ofcially recognized contract which, in turn, allows them to organize their life together. The rights offered by the PaCS apply to housing, taxation, health insurance and inheritance but the certicate does not give couples either the right to adopt or to gain access to articial insemination, although more recent debate has begun to focus very clearly on the question of gay parenting, both as an argument in favour of and against the PaCS. While the PaCS has been viewed by many as a step forward in French society, providing ofcial recognition of the existence of couples without traditional

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1 See, for example, Sitcom (Ozon, 1998), Gouttes deau sur pierres brlantes/Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Ozon, 1999), Les yeux ferms (Py, 2000).

heterosexual boundaries, it has also provided the focus for an increased visibility and audibility of homo- and lesbophobia in the French socio-political arena. Opposition has come, not only from more traditionalist right-wing political sources, but indeed from sections of the political left illustrated, for example, by the failure to pass the legislation on the rst attempt due to the poor turn-out of Socialist members of parliament. Throughout 1999, a series of public anti-PaCS demonstrations was organized, bringing together between a few thousand and a hundred thousand demonstrators, depending on the source of the gures, under such slogans as Todays homosexuals are tomorrows paedophiles, Queers to the stake or The PaCS will make society explode. The visibility of such anti-PaCS and anti-gay demonstrations has been counterbalanced, at least to a degree, by the success and popularity of the annual Lesbian and Gay Pride events held across France, the largest of which takes place in Paris. The French capital played host to the 1997 Europride celebrations with a well-publicized week of Pride events and an excellent example of gay marketing with both the SNCF and the RATP offering so-called pink tickets to people travelling to and around Paris for the events. While by no means attended exclusively by gays and lesbians, Gay Pride provides an opportunity for gay organizations to gain visibility for campaigns on safer sex but also, more recently, in favour of the PaCS legislation and, in 2000, the theme of the event was Homophobia: a social plague. It is against this backdrop of steps towards the establishment of an equality between gay and straight couples and an apparent increase, at least in the audibility, of homo- and lesbophobia, that I wish to examine developments in on-screen depictions of homosexuality in recent mainstream French cinema. The four lms discussed here Gazon maudit/French Twist (Balasko, 1995), Ma vie en rose/My Life in Pink (Berliner, 1997), Belle maman (Aghion, 1999) and Le Derrire (Lemercier, 1999) are all comedies, aimed at broad rather than community-based audiences and, as such, publicized in gay and straight media alike. Whether through characterization, dialogue, narrative or performance, they can all be seen as illustrating an attempt to bring aspects of the gay interest topics discussed above out of the realm of more independent gay and lesbian cinema and into mainstream production. This increased visibility of homosexuality has not been restricted to French comedy output (one could consider, for instance, such dramas, contemporary or historical, as Alice et Martin (Tchin, 1998) or Le Plus beau pays du monde (Bluwal, 1998)) but it is comedy that has led to high box-ofce gures for gay interest topics and which appears the favoured genre. As well as the four lms studied here, one could refer to the popular success of, for instance, Pdale douce (Aghion, 1996) with its four million spectators, or Le Placard/The Closet (Veber, 2000) with more than ve million spectators. This concentration on mainstream comedy should not be seen as an attempt to ignore the work of more independent gay lmmakers such as Franois Ozon or Olivier Py,1 but rather as an attempt to study how changes in wider societal attitudes towards homosexuality are reected in mainstream cinema production. We could begin, for instance, with Gazon maudit which turned a lesbian comedy into a family lm and a box-ofce hit (Vincendeau 1996: 25) boasting around four million spectators. In its comic portrayal of homosexuality, the lm makes great use of the preconceived notions one would perhaps expect a more mainstream audience to harbour, playing both on clichs of homosexuality and on expectations attached to gender roles and perceived gendered characteristics. The director, Josiane Balasko, takes on the central role as Marijo, a butch, cigar-smoking lesbian, transgress[ing] social and sexual taboos and plac[ing] the audience on her side (Rollet 1999: 132).

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The plot is somewhat implausible butch lesbians minivan breaks down and she asks the good-hearted heterosexual housewife (Victoria Abril) for help. Butch lesbian then falls for housewife, and vice versa, and the lm disintegrates into farce with the adulterous and hitherto ultra-heterosexual husband (Alain Chabat) fathering the lesbians child and meeting the man of his life. Physically, Marijo ts the stereotypical butch dyke mould perfectly short hair, trousers, waistcoat, no make-up, masculine walk, talk and behaviour. However, while Balasko relies on a stereotypical view of lesbian masculinity to enable a mainstream audience to recognize the characters sexuality, when the housewifes son greets Marijo with a timid Bonjour monsieur, we are, nevertheless, also expected to have recognized her quite denitely as a woman. The boys confusion over Marijos gender is a source of embarrassment to his mother and we may interpret this awkwardness as implying that the mistake was understandable, the child having at his disposal only clear-cut gender images and the stranger tting the male mould more than the female. It is not only Marijos physical appearance which leads the audience to question her positioning in relation to norms of masculinity and femininity. The dialogue also plays on the perceived connection between lesbianism and masculinity, giving, via the insults and derogatory comments the husband directs towards Marijo, a detailed overview of stereotypical approaches to lesbianism. We nd references to lesbianism as a poor replacement for heterosexuality (cette espce dersatz this male substitute), to lesbians not being true women (A woman? Where do you see a woman?) but not really being considered as men either (You dont have the balls for it) and to the inevitable lesbianism-as-entertainment-for-men (Two women together, if theres room for me). Interestingly, parallel to this focus on Marijos perceived masculinity, we also nd the husbands anger expressed as threats and insults against female sexuality in general. At one point, he threatens that he will make Marijo eat her own ovaries, and he uses such terms as salope (bitch) or gonzesse which are derogatory for women in general, rather than being specic attacks on lesbians. There is an apparent contradiction between the lack of femininity associated with lesbianism and the heightened attention paid to Marijos femininity. Balaskos depiction of a lesbian central character is undeniably heavy-handed and yet the lm received generally positive reviews (...) in the only French lesbian monthly publication Lesbia (Rollet 1999: 134). I would maintain that, for a mainstream French box-ofce hit, Gazon maudit served to provide a broad audience with food for thought on images of gender and sexuality construction. This developing mainstream focus on gay interest issues could be extended to cover Ma vie en rose which, although made by a Belgian director as a Belgian-FrenchBritish co-production, was primarily nanced by French companies. Geographically, the lm is set in an anonymous and tranquil French suburb with a cast of French (Michle Laroque, for instance) and Swiss (Jean-Pierre Ecoffey) actors and it was presented at Cannes in 1997 in the Quinzaine des Ralisateurs, as well as being nominated for a Csar for Best First Film in the same year. Berliner succeeds in presenting transgender questions to a wide audience without slumping into the use of clichs focusing on the character of Ludovic, a little boy who wants to be a little girl. The marginalization of Ludovics character takes place in a stereotypically happy suburb, within a normal family setting (mother, father, two brothers and a sister) and, although much of the visual (and musical) iconography appeals to elements of gay culture (the wonderfully camp and kitsch soap opera Ludovic adores, for example), the lm does not concentrate exclusively on such elements. Indeed, it is to Berliners credit that he

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succeeds in making a mainstream lm about transgender, which demonstrates a modern awareness of the subject and avoids simply drawing links between transgender and homosexuality. This is not to say that we are treated to an academic lmed essay on the ins and outs of transgender, merely that we are told an intelligent story, depicting the fear and lack of understanding surrounding transgender issues. Berliner highlights the frequent confusion between transgenderism and homosexuality and does so, initially, via a misunderstanding. Ludovic overhears one neighbour, Albert, criticizing another because his daughter called Alberts son une tapette (a poof ). Never having encountered the term before, Ludovic asks what it means but is greeted only by embarrassed silence: presumably the neighbour, who had previously laughed off the accusations, nds the term acceptable when bandied about in play, but far more problematic when its meaning has to be explained. Ludovic runs to ask his parents for a denition and meets with his fathers fury as he wrongly assumes that Ludovic was the target of the insult. In this context, tapette means poof but it is also French for y swat and this is the denition angrily provided by Ludovics father. Only later, when TAPETTE DEHORS (Out poof ) is daubed on the familys garage in red paint, does Ludovics mother explain that une tapette is also a boy who likes other boys, just like you. For the mother, it is apparently a foregone conclusion that Ludovic prefers boys. Admittedly, Ludovic had earlier mentioned that he wanted to marry his friend Jrme but he quite clearly stated this would happen when he becomes a girl. This, I would contend, introduces a series of questions concerning sexuality, gender identity and the sexual orientations of transgender subjects one would not necessarily expect to encounter in a mainstream comedy. A series of presuppositions surrounding gender roles and characteristics is developed throughout the lm, both in the way the neighbours and Ludovics family interact and in the way Ludovic himself talks. If we study references to Ludovic by those around him we begin to understand the conicting images faced by his character (and, by extension, transgender subjects generally). On the one hand, he is called a guy or, when with his brothers, one of his grandmothers little men while, on the other hand, the same grandmother refers to him, on his own, as ma petite pomme (my little apple), using feminine nouns and adjectives. The gender confusion continues throughout the lm: his brothers ask, somewhat in desperation, Is he a brother or a sister then?, while his grandmother points out to Ludovics parents that he is, above all, their child (votre enfant), opting deliberately for a non-gender specic term; when Ludovic himself adopts a strategy of exaggerated masculinity (grabbing his crotch, spitting and trying to kiss a female classmate), the girls reaction is quite clear: I dont kiss girls. Ludovics own use of gender-specic terms is particularly interesting. We rst see him in make-up, high heels and a dress and hear him justifying his own appearance (I wanted to make myself look beautiful), specically choosing the feminine term belle, rather than its masculine equivalent beau. His parents brush his words aside (At his age, kids play with their identity) but his grandmothers reaction is much rmer: A sept ans, on dit beau (When youre seven years old, you say beau). In other words, gender identity should be clearly dened and one should only use terms deemed appropriate for that identity. Later, Ludovic tells his grandmother of his plan to marry Jrme when Im not a boy any more. Indeed, he goes so far as to conduct a pretend marriage ceremony with Jrme, describing how tout le monde me trouve trs belle (everybody nds me very beautiful), again opting for the feminine adjective. Ludovics mother discusses these incidents with him on two occasions. Initially, Ludovic appears to understand that he will never marry Jrme and, to his mothers

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tentative if youre a boy, you cant marry another boy, he replies I know that in a tone which implies his mother was foolish to think he could even have considered it. However, in the second conversation, we understand exactly what Ludovic meant: I will be a girl, to which his exasperated mother replies sharply that he is a boy and will remain so for the rest of his life. Interestingly, the most down-to-earth approach to Ludovics gender confusion comes from another child. Ludovic decides to tell Jrme that he plans to become a girl and will then be able to marry him. Jrme looks at him sceptically and retorts That depends what kind of girl you turn out to be! What is remarkable about Ma vie en rose is the fact that Berliner manages to maintain mainstream accessibility while, at the same time, examining transgender issues in an open, aware fashion, even succeeding in raising questions on standard French language usage and linguistic gender assumptions. This desire to deal with questions of gender identity and construction is by no means restricted to Ma vie en rose but would seem to be part of an attempt, within mainstream French cinema, to bring to a broader audience elements of a debate on associations between gender and sexuality which may, in more independent lm production, appear too theoretical or minority-specic. It is a topic which can be found, for instance, in Le Derrire in which the director, renowned French comedienne and comic actress Valrie Lemercier, follows in Balaskos successful footsteps, and takes on the central role of Frdrique-Frdric. Following her mothers death, Frdrique decides to track down the father she has never known and, discovering he is gay and living with his partner, chooses to disguise herself as a young, effeminate, gay man (his son rather than his daughter) in order to get to know him. The release of Le Derrire caused a stir, not least because of an interview Lemercier gave to the gay monthly Ttu accompanied by a series of digitally altered photographs by Mondino showing Lemerciers head on a mans body (Doustaly 1999). Far from being clumsy or humorous collages, the images truly threw into question the gender of the subject, using the contours of Lemerciers body and changing only minimal detail. Similarly, the on-screen content of Le Derrire leads the audience to question its own gender expectations as we observe the transformation from Frdrique (female) to Frdric (male), creating a strange, unknown entity, in the inter-region of the sexes (Seguret 1999). We are initially introduced to Frdrique in the inescapably masculine surroundings of her late mothers stud farm, with great emphasis on virility and the penis and sperm of the horses. However, as soon as Frdrique leaves the farm at the start of the lm, this stark male-female division becomes blurred with the introduction of Marc, the rst gay character, Frdriques delicate, effeminate ballet dancing friend. Frdriques rst experience of cross-dressing comes after a meal with Marc and two gay friends. Rather than leaving Frdrique behind while they go to an exclusively male bar, the trio dress her in Marcs clothes, with a wig and a neat little rucksack and Frdrique nds herself in the Victory, being chatted up by a moustachioed, leather gay man. The initial cross-dressing scene is particularly interesting as the audience is forced to question what constitutes, on the one hand, femininity and masculinity, and, on the other hand, the physical transformations necessary for a heterosexual woman to pass as a gay man. Initially, the trio disguise Frdrique in a suit and tie, an outt one would tend to associate readily with a particular vision of masculinity, but they quickly remark that this makes her look even more like a girl. A more appropriate gay look is found, with the nishing touch coming in the form of a pair of socks rolled up and slipped into the front of Frdriques jeans. For a mainstream audience whose knowledge of cross-

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dressing is perhaps limited to the likes of La cage aux folles (Molinaro, 1978), this constitutes a very modern approach to drag and could be seen as leading to a reconsideration of the very concepts of masculinity and femininity. Expectations are left unfullled rather than making Frdrique look more masculine, the suit and tie serve to underline her femininity, and yet this femininity does not take the same form as that of Marc or his friends and is therefore deemed neither suitable nor passable. The look nally adopted is more androgynous and yet the nishing touch comes in the unarguably hyper-masculine shape of the rolled up socks. It seems as though the balance to be struck between masculinity and femininity is far more delicate than may initially have been imagined. While the examples discussed so far deal, primarily, with general questions of construction of gender and sexuality in a mainstream context, as the 1990s have progressed, we can also nd examples of more direct references to specic elements of a broader gay rights debate. Just as Les Nuits fauves (Collard 1992) assumed a certain basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS terminology (AZT, T-cell counts and so on), so too do a number of more contemporary lms assume an awareness, for example, of the existence of so-called familles homoparentales (families with gay parents) or of the vocabulary of the PaCS debate. Belle maman is the perfect example of this trend, bringing explicit reference to a number of the gay interest topics discussed earlier to a mainstream audience (1,180,000 spectators, attracted to the lm, among other things, by the formidable cast listing: Catherine Deneuve, Vincent Lindon, Jean Yanne, Line Renaud, Stphane Audran...). This farcical comedy begins with an all-too-standard comic premise: Antoine (Lindon) stands at the altar and falls for his mother-in-law-to-be, La (Deneuve), with all manner of amorous twists and turns ensuing. However, the lm, in fact, succeeds in highlighting in an intelligent way such topics as gay parenting, problems of ageing and mental health in gay couples, coming out within a straight marriage and the PaCS. Aghions work may not be an example of great cinematic subtlety, but it illustrates the attempt to create a vision of homosexuality encompassing more than merely sexual behaviour or attraction. La is the daughter of a lesbian mother, Nicou [Line Renaud, who was quoted as saying that she accepted the role as soon as Aghion told her she would play Catherine Deneuves lesbian mother (Seguret 1998)], whose partner is battling with the rapid onset of senility. Just as Las heterosexuality is never thrown into question, so too is Nicous homosexuality treated simply as part of her character without becoming a problematic issue to be dealt with. On the contrary, Aghion seems keen to use Nicou as a means of afrming the potential positive results of gay parenting. He does so, for instance, through a scene at Nicous seventieth birthday party during which La sings a tribute to her, recounting her own happy experience as the daughter of this woman, but also as the daughter of a gay parent. The lyrics talk of Nicous choice of a father for La (tall, blond, handsome in short, the perfect father gure) but also of the moment when Nicou came out to her daughter, telling quite bluntly that she preferred women and asking La just to call her papa. From the outset, Aghion presents us with an older lesbian character, not as a desexualized gure, but rather as a woman who has lived, who chose a male partner because she wanted a child and then raised the child herself and whose long-term stable relationship is rendered unhappy only by the failing health of her partner. The mother-daughter relationship described in the lyrics of Las song can only be seen as displaying the merits of gay parenting. We may question, however, whether Aghions rose-coloured view of gay parenting

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in the case of Nicou and La is positively inuenced by the fact that we are dealing with a mother-daughter relationship, somehow viewed as less dangerous than a gay fatherson relationship. Indeed, in a later scene, when Antoines best friend Pascal, an apparently happily married, apparently heterosexual man, comes out and suggests that he wants his partner to meet his children, Antoine is visibly shocked. A distinction would appear to be drawn between the simple, straightforward family composed of Nicou and La on the one hand, and the potential family including Pascal, his children and his male partner on the other. Nicous presence is an integral part of the lm and we are aware from the beginning that the grandmother is a dyke (Lefort 1999: 32), whereas Pascal is kept as more of a secondary gure with much less time on-screen. Admittedly, the reasoning behind this distinction is not made explicitly clear. Should we take it as stemming from the fact that, in the case of Nicou, there was never really any heterosexuality from which to come out whereas Pascal is taking taboos one step further and breaking with the traditions of an established, hetero family set-up? Or are we expected to consider Pascals wish for his partner to meet his children as more surprising or questionable because it brings into play male sexuality and children, a combination often perceived as being more dangerous? To return to Le Derrire, we can also nd here an example of a consideration of gay parenting but from a different perspective. Here we nd Frdriques father Pierre (Claude Rich) nding it difcult to strike a balance between his formerly childfree life and his new-found fatherhood. The arrival of Frdrique is seen as disturbing the otherwise well-ordered, bourgeois life of her rich and successful father and, ironically, seems to impinge upon the faade of safe heterosexuality he had constructed for public occasions. Instead of helping Pierre to maintain this front of hetero-normality, the fact that his child is an effeminate, apparently openly gay young man only adds to his problems. While Aghion used a happy mother-daughter relationship to emphasize the positive aspects of gay parenting, Lemercier shows that a balance has to be reached or regained, not only from the point of view of a child discovering the homosexuality of a parent, but, indeed, from that of a new parent who has thus far never even considered the possibility of family life. Lemercier, it would seem, relies more heavily on age-old stereotypes of gay life than Aghion chose to do: Pierre verges on the camp, on the effeminate, although in a far more rened manner than his son, his partner is highly strung and snobbish and is appalled at the very notion that his partner could ever have even considered sleeping with a woman. One could question Lemerciers initial decision to have a child pretending to be gay as a means of approaching a gay parent as this brings into play troubled and troubling notions of parent-child attraction and sexuality which Aghion, for example, merely hints at with Pascal and his children. Frdrique nds out where her father works and manages to take the lift with him. No contact whatsoever is made. Immediately afterwards, the scene is repeated but with Frdrique in the young gay man outt (wig, tight top and trousers, little rucksack) and we at once see that Pierres attention is attracted. How are viewers expected to interpret such a scene, a deliberate play on the sexual desires and attractions of the father by the child? It is particularly troubling in terms of what is apparently implied about gay men Frdrique has no doubt that, dressed in this way, Pierre will inevitably be attracted to him/her and therefore, more simply, will notice his/her presence. Could this not be seen as implying an underlying promiscuity (at least of the gaze) on the part of gay male subjects? Whereas Aghions gay parents appear to have more traditional (i.e. non-sexual) relationships with their children (Antoines shock is, after all, counter-balanced by

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Pascals genuine happiness with his new partner and his desire to make him part of his life), Lemercier sticks to a depiction of homosexuality which relies on a concentration on sexuality and sexual attraction, even within the realm of gay family relationships. To return to Belle maman, we also nd here the fascinating nal scene, during which the children of the various and varied couples broken and formed during the lm discuss their relatives relationships. The scene takes place at a wedding and the children observe the characters as they pose for wedding photos, commenting on the gures who appear but also, by inference, on the complexities of contemporary French society, at least in terms of the relationships to be found within it. By using children here, Aghion is able to greatly simplify the descriptions and comments and thus, it would seem, we are shown how the various partnerships could be deproblematized. Obviously, Aghion is playing on the cute factor sweet and innocent children talking knowingly of adult relationships and thus endearing themselves to the audience and yet it seems that the scene could also be read as containing deeper political comment. Nicou appears in front of the photographer, alone, and one child introduces her to the others as her grandmother. The grandchild explains that she had a girlfriend, whom she loved very much, but that the girlfriend died and now Nicou will never nd another because she is too old. Clearly, the audience is expected to smile at this discussion of old age by young children, but our attention is also drawn to the fact that we were presented with an older lesbian couple. While in a great number of more independent gay lms, the emphasis is on the cult of youth, either with younger central characters or younger objects of desire, in Belle Maman and, indeed, in most of the lms discussed in this article, we nd gay characters who tend to have passed their thirties. This, I would argue, forms part of a more mainstream depiction of homosexuality which is not concentrated solely on issues of sexual activity and attraction. One could, of course, argue that this constitutes a degree of desexualization and that it is this which renders the lms accessible to a wider audience, the very fact that they steer away from depictions of homosexuality which may be more difcult to accept: anonymous sexual encounters, numerous partners, the attraction of older gay men, in particular, for younger men, all of which crop up in the work of Collard or Py. However, I would contend that this criticism over-simplies the matter and that, in fact, mainstream directors could be seen as attempting to construct an image of homosexuality which would depict gay men and lesbians as more than simply sexual beings, with lives built around more than simply their sexual histories. When Pascal and partner Franck pose for the camera, one child announces that this is his father and his boyfriend. Another asks whether they are married, to which the rst child replies quite simply No, theyre waiting for the PaCS. Aghion seems to be implying, rstly, that the children have a far from blinkered view of marriage (for the questioning child there is no reason why the two men could not be married) but also that they take developments such as the PaCS in their stride and do not consider them as problematic additions to French society. Political debate is not entered into by the children but the audience is left questioning exactly what Aghion hoped to achieve by the use of this scene, the children having thus far only existed in the dialogue of their parents. The merit of all the lms discussed here is that, while retaining the characteristics necessary for mainstream box-ofce success, they nevertheless succeed in bringing to a mixed audience a consideration of gay interest topics which would otherwise remain conned to more minority-centred lm production. From general considerations of constructions of images of gender and sexuality to explicit inclusion of contemporary

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issues from politics, they also serve to reect societal developments, both in terms of progress in matters of gay rights and in relation to the perceived development of homophobia in France.

References
Anon. (2000), Tous les garons et les filles, Les Inrockuptibles 247, 1319 June 2000, p. 25. Doustaly, T. (1999), Interview transgenre, Ttu 34, May 1999, www.tetu.com. Last accessed August 1999. Lefort, G. (1999), La dsunion fait la force, Libration, 10 March 1999, p. 32. Rollet, B. (1999), Unruly woman? Josiane Balasko, French Comedy and Gazon maudit (Balasko 1995), French Cinema in the 1990s: Continuity and Difference (ed. P. Powrie), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 12736. Seguret, O. (1998), Bien au chaud, sous les jupes de Belle Maman, Libration, 28 October 1998, www.liberation.fr. Last accessed 19th June 1999. Seguret, O. (1999), Le Derrire est culott, Libration, 28 April 1999, www.liberation.fr. Last accessed 19th June 1999. Vincendeau, G. (1996), The Companion to French Cinema, London: BFI Publishing/Cassell.

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