DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
2 :-( :-( for being quaint
Cast: Steven Mackintosh, Rupert Graves, Miriam Margolyes, Saskia Reeves Director: Richard Spence Producer: John Chapman Screenplay: Tony Marchant
There has been a movie made for almost every sexual encounter possible. A man meets a woman they have sex (most movies), a man meets a man they have sex (PRIEST), a woman meets a woman they have sex (BASIC INSTINCT), a man meets a man dressed as woman they have sex (THE CRYING GAME) and vice versa (TWELFTH NIGHT). So why is it DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS? Well, as far as I know, this is one of the few films that deals with man meets tran-sexual and they have sex.
The man we are referring to is Prentice (Rupert Everett), an on-the-edge, adult-with-adolescent-complex, lacking-social-graces misfit, who was once great friends with an effeminate guy named Karl (Steven Mackintosh), in high school. The movie opens with Karl sensually washing himself like a girl in the school shower, but when Karl becomes Kim, instead of remaining sensual, he becomes a bit of an uptight, prissy aristocrat. Steven Mackintosh does not seem to suit this role well. He comes across as a bit of a Martina Navratilova - butch and heavy-handed. If they wanted to make this movie a sensitive, romantic piece they should have hired an actress to play the role of the tran-sexual instead.
The whole film is a lead up to a moment where Kim gets to talk about her skin softening with oestrogen replacement, her breasts getting larger and fuller, the areolar darkening, inevitable giving Prentice a hard on. The situation then leads to Prentice becoming confused about his sexual orientation, followed by flashing his manhood around the neighbourhood, before being arrested and assaulted by the police. Kim and Prentice then put their personal and sexual differences aside and hop into bed. It is here that Prentice gets to say ludicrously funny lines like, ‘Oh my God it fits', like he was expecting it not too. Before a trite ending where they sell the ‘Karl becomes Kim' story to a newspaper, buy an apartment and ride off on a motor cycle like ‘Easy Riders'.
If you were ever confused about the issues of tran-sexualism, this movie will not clarify it further.
Timothy Voon
e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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