The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye

Art, love, and devotion are at radical extremes in director Marie Losier’s provocative, intimate, and ultimately highly affecting documentary, a portrait of British cult musician and transgressive performance artist Genesis P-Orridge (born Neil Megson). An iconic figure linking the pre- and post-punk eras, P-Orridge was a major innovator and influence in the development of industrial music through his prolific work with COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, and Psychic TV. In the 1990s, P-Orridge embarked on his most subversive, boundary-defying artistic endeavour yet: After he met and married New York dominatrix Jacqueline “Lady Jaye” Beyer, a woman many years his junior, the two embarked on a body-modification project they called Pandrogeny, undergoing plastic surgeries (including his-and-her breast implants) to more closely resemble one another and merge into a single unified entity! Losier’s brisk, lively, and compelling film won two prizes at Berlin in 2011. “A touching story of love on the outer boundaries of identity and gender, as well as a secret underground history of an influential late 20th century subculture ... Losier uses home movies, archival photography and footage, P-Orridge’s music, and interviews to tell the couple’s fascinating story with depth, honesty, and intimacy” (Vancouver I.F.F). Colour and B&W, HDCAM. 70 mins.