Amazon.co.uk Review
Jean-Jacques Zilbermann's intermittently charming 1999 film
Man Is a Woman ("Un Homme est Une Femme comme des Autres") was a surprise hit in France, briefly out-grossing
Titanic. A bittersweet study of bisexuality and identity, it puts feckless gay bar pianist Simon (Antoine de Caunes, better known from
Eurotrash) on the spot when his uncle offers him a fortune to marry and preserve the family name. At the wedding of David (Gad Elmalah), the cousin on whom he has a long-standing crush, Simon plays clarinet with a traditional klezmer band, impressing American Rosalie so much she falls for him. Rosalie is a traditionalist, who sings Yiddish folk songs to halls of ageing folk--yet for all that she is the black sheep of a claustrophobically loving New York family of the ultra-orthodox. Simon's cynical eye to the main chance does not contradict his genuine affection for her innocence or their mutual attraction (though he fancies her brother more). The well-observed social and sexual comedy as well as the gorgeous music do not entirely compensate for some unresolved plot threads. --
Roz Kaveney
