Fridae

In French with subtitles

If you have a straight homophobic male friend whom you have trouble coming out to, take him to the French ghost comedy Poltergay. It might just convince him that gays are really quite harmless, and on top of that, we know everything about fashion and finesse that could help him impress the ladies.

Poltergay is a blend of Queer Eye for a Straight Guy, Poltergeist and Saturday Night Fever. If, for some unfortunate reason, you don't know what Queer Eye is, it is an American TV show where five astonishingly stylish gay men help sartorially-clueless straight men spruce up their look, their wardrobes and their homes - transforming them into sexy metrosexuals for all of two minutes before the show ends.

In Poltergay, Clovis Cornillac plays such a straight man - pre-makeover, of course. He has a face of a pug, works in construction, dresses without fuss, and loves to play billiard. He and his pretty wife (Julie Depardieu) have just moved into an old decrepit mansion in the hope of restoring it.

But when night falls and they're ready to sleep, he hears loud thumping disco music which his wife can't. Sometimes while sleeping, the blankets are mysteriously pulled off his naked body to expose his beautiful glow-in-the-dark bubble butt. Other times, he finds a penis-shaped drawing etched on the walls of his house.

What's going on? Is he imagining things? Why is he seeing penises everywhere?

Of course, no gay man in his shoes would think anything was wrong. But being straight, Clovis is quite understandably distressed. One night when the mysterious disco music starts playing, he gets out of bed and follows the sound. It takes him down to the basement where five flamboyant gay ghosts are shaking their booties to the beat of Boney M.

The Fab Five are wearing bell bottoms, feather boas and lots of bling bling - but because they're speaking French, queer audiences can immediately guess that they're gay ghosts from the 70s and not just Black-Eyed Peas fans. As it turns out, the ghosts were flaming disco queens who died in real flames that engulfed a famous gay discotheque which Clovis' mansion once housed.

Learning the truth, Clovis goes through the classic "six stages of human-ghost interaction":
Stage One: Fear ("Arrrrrrrrrgh")
Stage Two: Denial ("They're not real")
Stadge Three: Anger ("Get out of my house, damn it! Get out!")
Stage Four: Helplessness ("Please, I beg you, what do you want from me?")
Stage Five: Learning to live with the ghosts
Stage Six: Engaging in creative activities together

Just as Patrick Swayze's half-naked spirit helped invigorate Demi Moore's pottery sessions, and Casper consoled Christina Ricci over her baby fat, the gay ghosts help Clovis discover the joys of fine cuisine and fancy upholstery.

Poltergay is what it is - a fun, goofy, undemanding piece of queer cinema that'll keep you occupied and entertained for a couple of hours. Clovis Cornillac's frenzied comic energy and Eric Lavaine's competent direction ultimately pull the film's diverse elements together.

At the recent special Fridae preview in Singapore, the film kept a whole cinema of dykes and dandies laughing away - when they were looking at the screen and not at each other. The film was also a hit with French audiences when it opened in France last October.

So grab your friends, purchase some your popcorn, and leave your brain at the door. This one's for the whole gang.