Country of Origin: Belgium
Primary Audio Language: Flemish and French
Director: Lukas Dhont
Film Length: 1h 46m
Synopsis: Lara, a 15-year-old girl who was born in a boy's body, is committed to becoming a professional ballerina.
Star Rating: ★★★★★
Review: Inspired by Nora Monseucour, and loosely based on her life as a trans female dancer from Belgium, this film has received praise and criticism alike. Winner of the Camera d’Or for best feature film, and the Queer Palm, at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, it follows Lara, a 15-year-old transgender girl who aspires to be a professional ballerina.
The movie begins after Lara, played by Lukas Dhont, and her family have recently moved to be closer to the prestigious ballet school she’s been accepted to. Her father is shown as being very supportive of her medical transition, and the other girls at her school are aware she’s transgender, do not object to her sharing using their locker room, and otherwise appear to accept her as one of them. Her doctors are also shown as being very supportive, and, when she is struggling with the slow progress of her transition, her psychologist even tries to dissuade her frustration by reminding her “you’re a woman, so you have a woman’s body already”; all of the characters beyond this don’t seem to notice she’s transgender.
This seems like it would make a great and progressive movie, and many cisgender viewers will see it as an emotionally rich coming of age story about Lara’s anguish as she struggles through self-acceptance; the rawness of it may even go as far as to create a seemingly sense of understanding and greater empathy for people born in bodies that do not accurately represent their gender, but it’s more complicated than that.
Although Lara does experience some bullying when she’s at a sleepover party for a friend’s birthday and is pressured into showing the other girls her penis, this film has been heavily criticized for a variety of reasons. Lara’s personality is limited to her dysphoria, with little complexity the character beyond that. The movie primarily focuses on genitalia; as opposed to the actual social stigmatization faced by transgender individuals; and the end of the movie, following the scene in which Lara mutilates her own penis, it shows her with short hair and happy, which some have viewed as an implication her mental state is now better due to stopping her transition. Additionally, similar to backlash received by The Danish Girl and 3 Generations, there’s also a lot of criticism regarding the casting of a cisgender actor to play the part, because transgender actors exist, and that just further adds to the erasure of their authentic voice.
Nora herself has expressed her support for the film and defended it by writing, “Girl is not a representation of all transgender experiences, but rather a retelling of experiences that I faced during my journey.” Additionally, it is also one of the few films that have even attempted to depict the bravery required to transition and the sheer pain and inescapable turmoil that can come from not feeling you fit in your own body.
It’s an important story that needs to be told, and this movie makes an genuine attempt at the sensitive nuances of growing up transgender, but it’s important to view it through a critical lens.
Available On: Netflix
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