A 10-year-old girl, settling into her new neighborhood outside Paris, is mistaken for a boy...
Margaret: David:
Tomboy
Rated G
Review by Margaret Pomeranz
Gender identity at the cusp of adolescence is explored in Celine Sciamma’s TOMBOY. Laure, ZOE HERAN, is 10 years old, her family have just moved to a new neighbourhood with her six year old sister Jeanne, MALONN LEVANA. Her mother, SOPHIE CATTANI, is very pregnant, her father, MATTIEU DEMY, works with computers. It is a very loving family. When Laure meets up with Lisa, JEANNE DISSON, she’s mistaken for a boy and she goes along with it. She calls herself Mikael.
The mistaken identity can’t go on forever, school is looming at the end of the idyllic summer holidays. But even Jeanne is talked into going along with the deception.
This exquisite film is as pure as you can get, it’s observational, it’s minimalist, there’s no intrusive music except where it is part of the action. That fragility of a young girl, despite her boyish behaviour, is so painful, it’s been really beautifully and compassionately presented by writer/director Celine Sciamma. The performances are a knockout, they’re truly believably naturalistic. All the kids are great but Zoe Heran is just stunning, as is Malonn Levana as her little sister. This is just a wonderful gem of a film. Makes you glad some people make movies.
Further comments
MARGARET: David?
DAVID: It does indeed. I found it really lovely but also a little bit painful because this girl who is a tomboy - we first see her in her father's car. He's letting her steer while he drives along and she's so excited about that. She wants to do all the things a boy does. She dresses like a boy. Her hair is cut like a boy and that's all okay as far as her parents are concerned. But then she goes one step further in introducing herself to her new friends as a boy and that that's not going to last. That there's going to be an end to that and your heart breaks for her.
MARGARET: But that actually creates this amazing tension in the film, don't you think?
DAVID: Yes. Yes.
MARGARET: It's sort of like it's not horror film tension.
DAVID: No. No.
MARGARET: But it's just this beautiful, beautiful undercurrent.
DAVID: Well, because you care for her. You care for these characters.
MARGARET: Yes.
DAVID: You just want her not to be hurt but that she's going to be hurt inevitably in some way or another.
MARGARET: This is just it's a really, really beautiful film.
DAVID: It is a beautiful film, I agree.
MARGARET: I am giving it four and a half stars.
DAVID: I'm giving it four.