Tomboy [DVD]

It’s the summer holidays. The family have just moved house to some nameless suburb. Ten-year-old Laure is seeking new friends. Her sister, six-year-old Jeanne, is not so bothered, being more enraptured by her own internal life as a real princess and ballet dancer.Watching this 2011 film, written and directed by Celine Sciamma, one cannot help be reminded of the work of the Dardenne brothers. It’s a similar everyday scene with ‘real’ performances and a story that has profound implications for the lives of real people rather than for society at large. Like the Dardennes, there is no soundtrack.Jeanne likes her long hair and colours her toenails with felt-tip pens; but the older Laure likes driving the car with her Dad and sipping Dad’s beer. She does not like the pinkness of her key-chain. Her bedroom walls are blue; she practices in front of a mirror the act of spitting like a boy. Like the other boys, she takes off her vest when playing soccer – and she plays well too.Under a pseudonym of Mikhael, Laure is accepted as a boy without question by her new playmates, both male and female, but when the boys take a pee, Laure has to go into the bushes. The deception continues whilst her parents are wholly ignorant of what is going on.But the summer must come to an end and school beckons; and school will mean real names, and real names mean real genders. What will happen? How will this play out? We expect tragedy as the denouement, but it will be intensely personal, poignant, an act of humiliation that we all go through, must go through, as we grow up.Once hooked by the innocent deception – no wickedness is implied by it: Laure simply feels more comfortable as Mikhael – ‘Tomboy’ becomes a mesmerising film, as one wonders how this innocent dishonesty will work itself out.The extras on my copy include a twenty-minute behind-the-scenes featurette (in French), exploring the writing, the casting, and the filming of the movie. We learn that many of the kids in the film were the real-life friends of Zoe Heron, who played Laure. The director, Celine Sciamma, describes Laure as “un garcon manqué”. There is also a fifteen-minute interview in English with Celine in which she refers to a lot of her own memories being in the film.

I like european films because they work on a different level from the anglo-saxon world.The P.G. rated film Tomboy is no exception and with a lot of French films they are not shy with dealing with ackward subjects. The film as suggested deals with a tomboy and her confusion over her sexality.The director has used low-angle letterbox style of filming which really hones in on the subject it tells of a move to a new home and how she tries to get acceptance from the local children while acting like a boy.Her youger sister gives the game away to her parents and this in turn her only female friend who thinks she is a boy eventualy finds out.The film ends on a good note as her female friend accepts her for what she actually is. The style of the film is what adults would like childhood to be rather than it actually is with children being allowed to play outside and in the nearby park on their own, it could be described as a fly on the wall documentry of childhoodand sometimes it feels you are watching a family`s own film records. The younger sister in these scenes tends to upstage her older tomboy sibling. The film was made on a limited budget and in three weeks and is a tribute to the director but that is why european films are so different and tend to deal with real life problems. If you decide to buy this film there are also two other films to consider,on this subject Mai vai en rose (My life in pink) from France and Darfinkar and Donickar from Sweden.

I debated with myself for months before buying this film, but I love the film 'Ma Vie En Rose', about a little boy who wants to be a little girl, so I was curious to see how the story of a little girl who wants to be a little boy might be handled. I suppose therefore, maybe I bought this film as an academic companion piece to 'Ma Vie En Rose'.In either case, the scenario had to be handled sensitively and proficiently by the actors and directors concerned, to avoid their efforts descending into puerile comedic farce. Fortunately, in both cases, this has not happened.Celine Sciamma's debut as a Director, 'Water Lilies'', was an almost claustrophobically tense dance of adolescent first love, lust, and friendship. This piece, however, retains the freedom and breathtaking joyousness of childhood, without seeking to mask the truth for the sake of an adult's eyes.Zoe Heran is perfectly cast as Laure, the ten year old girl who slips into the persona of Michael without a backward glance when she and her family move to a new neighbourhood. She is to be commended for her bravery in taking on this role, as it cannot be easy for a child to be told that they would do well playing the opposite sex. Casting Zoe Heran's real life friends in the film was a masterstroke, as their presence on screen gives the film a fly-on-the-wall feel that just helps to extend the naturally joyous feel of childhood to the viewer.Inevitably, any serious film collector or fan thinking of buying this film may seek comparisons between Laure and characters such as Saga (Melinda Kinnaman) in 'My Life As A Dog. Don't. This film is very much in the neo-realist tradition of modern european cinema and, as such, the situation in which Laure finds herself is very naturalistic.I should not have prevaricated over buying this film. Watch it, and enjoy your own childhood all over again!If you enjoy this film, you might like Bruno ( The Dress Code ), Ma Vie En Rose [DVD] [1997], or The Giants [DVD].