The latest film from reliable French director François Ozon begins with the funeral of young, beautiful Laura (Isild Le Besco), who leaves behind a baby girl; a husband, David (Romain Duris); and a shattered best friend, Claire (Anaïs Demoustier). A beautiful, elegiac flashback tells the story of Laura and Claire’s friendship.

The twist in this tale, based on a story by the late Ruth Rendell, is that after Laura’s death, David discovers a true identity as a transgender woman named Virginia — and Claire likes Virginia better than David, both as a friend and, perhaps, something more.

The film has a nice sense of female friendships’ emotional depth. But as a woman, Duris (while amusing) is not much more convincing than Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in “Some Like It Hot.”