Tomboy

We saw the French film Tomboy not long ago. It had gotten great reviews and I was very curious about it.

I liked the acceptance of the main character implied in the film and I also liked the sister’s acceptance of the main character. I did, however, question the precocity of the children, especially the little sister. The conversations among the children didn’t always ring true.

But while I liked the main character and the way the film was done, a larger issue for me was that I didn’t understand the character. I didn’t know how s/he saw her/himself. Is this a child who simply wanted to “pass” as a boy? Is it a child who feels that s/he is in the wrong body? Is it a child who is in fact the “tomboy” of the title? Was this a stage? What was going on, really?

I felt it was a trans character, but I didn’t have enough confirmation of that, and the title seemed to speak against that idea. M saw herself in the character and though the character was a girl who just wanted to play with the boys, do “boy things”, and be accepted by the boys (i.e. not as a boy per se). It simply wasn’t clear. The ending certainly made me question my idea that it was a trans film, because it seemed to say that the character was moving on, “maturing”, and living as a girl now.

I suppose one reason why I love literature is that it allows you to get inside the head of the character/s. Film doesn’t allow this as much; it’s much more external. But if the main character had spoken more in Tomboy, maybe it would have been easier to follow what was going on.

Despite that, I actually really enjoyed the film and thought it was mostly well done.