Ma vie en rose (1997) User Reviews

Enchanting film about the universal evils of homophobia

[mdm-11 · 9/10 · 8 October 2004]

The subject matter of this wonderful film (parents' reaction to their suspicions they may have a gay child) is sadly still a controversial topic. The parents of the 7 year-old hero respond erratically to the ever mounting pile of evidence, at times supportive, at times down-playing, then again aggressively trying to "fight" this non-sense in their son's head.

The stereotypes of the "bent", as well as the extreme "opposers" (parents unanimously signing petitions to expel the boy from his school - unanimously???? WOW!), neighbors (who seem to be hiding "secrets" of their own) are vivid, and hopefully strongly exaggerated. To see a 7 year old "hide" in a freezer is a frightening sign that children feel so desperately "out-of-place" in the world that seems to not want them in it.

The fantasy element of "Pam", a "Barbie-Doll-like" fictional character, serves as an escape for the boy who wishes to be a girl. When the family feels forced to leave their home (after Dad got fired - we wonder how that happened??) for a distant new place, all seems well until our hero is "caught" swapping party costumes with a girl. The boy's furious mother didn't realize that the little girl was the one who fancied the masculine costume the boy was wearing.

At the end there is hope for a happy future for everyone. Unfortunately the parents (who should have known better from the start) took a dangerously long time to figure out what's right. They promised to love their son unconditionally, no matter what.

This film is filled with magic and wonder and should be seen by all audiences. An R-Rating is absolutely ridiculous! Elementary schools should make this film mandatory viewing. There is not a single scene in this entire film that would warrant even a PG-13. Who rated this film, anyway - Jerry Falwell? I highly recommend this film to those with an open mind, and especially to those without.

Charming, Touching--And Surprisingly Subversive

[gftbiloxi · 8/10 · 9 May 2005]

The most obvious way to read MA VIE EN ROSE is as the tale of difficulties faces by a very young boy who is very likely transgenderd--but given the multi-layered nature of the film this is actually a rather narrow point of view. It would be more accurate to describe the film as a rather sly assault on a cookie-cutter society that reacts with a herd mentality toward anything in the least unusual. And Ludovic Fabre is a most unusual child: barely into school, he has become convinced that he is a girl, and in his childhood innocence he sees absolutely nothing socially amiss with the idea.

The film begins with a party at which neighbors gather to welcome the newly arrived Fabre family--only to be, along with the family, extremely disconcerted when Ludovic makes an entrance in meticulously applied make-up and a pink dress. His family passes the incident off as a joke, but Ludovic proves remarkably single-minded, and when he draws a neighborhood child into his fantasies he also incurs neighborhood hysteria. The result is at once comic and unpleasantly vicious as his classmates, his neighbors, and eventually his family gradually turn upon him.

Although there are one or two problems with character development in the script, the cast--particularly Georges du Fresne as Ludovic and Helene Vincent as free-spirit grandmother Elizabeth--is superlative, and director Alain Berliner balances the serio-comic story with a very light touch. Viewers will laugh a little, cry a little, and ultimately come away from the film feeling an uncertain hope. The fact that this film is rated "R" is merely so much more evidence of the power of the herd to dictate standards of normalcy--one or two profanities aside, there is absolutely nothing in the film to offend any intelligent viewer, and the film will hold a special appeal for older children who have been targeted as in any way different by their peers... and for the many adults who remember what it was like to be a victim of a society that prizes conformity over imagination, creativity, honesty, integrity, and self-awareness. Strongly recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This movie taught me the word "tolerance"

[samsoum · 8/10 · 11 June 2006]

Being a movie fanatic and reviewer, I was invited to the "Semaine du Cinema Francophone" in Beirut (francophone cinema week). The movie taught me the word "tolerance" as I was one of these stupid guys who mocked on effeminate people. (Maybe to reject my desire at this age to be free to disguise myself, like Ludovic did in the movie). What I know is that being in a place that was supposed to gather cultivated people, journalists and movie reviewers, cinema lovers, artists, etc. I was chocked to hear people laughing at some scenes that were supposed to be moving, sensitive and very important humanely. Also the sound going out public mouth: "tsss tsss tsss" was so chocking that I felt more the pressure of "non-tolerant' society inside the movie theater itself, more than the pressure Ludovic had to endure in his story. My personality was projected into Ludovic who suffered his moments in the film, while I was personally suffering inside the theater and trying to vibe with the movie, despite chocked snobbish people's reaction. An excellent movie. Rather a drama than a comedy!

His life as a girl

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 10 August 2005]

Most comments submitted to this forum seem to give credit to the French cinema for bringing "Ma vie en rose" to the screen. While this is a co-production, the film is a Belgian movie, as well as its talented director, Alain Berliner, who co-wrote the screen treatment with Chris Vander Stappen.

We first saw this excellent film in a film festival before its commercial release. Thanks to IFCTV, which is airing it lately, we revisited it, and again, we were charmed by this unpretentious movie that has its heart in the right places. The idea of Ludovic, the young boy, who thinks of himself as a girl, has been discussed in some of the wonderful comments submitted to IMDb.

"Ma vie en rose" is a film that has the courage to tackle a subject that is different from all what one sees in mainstream movies. It also has a lot of messages for the viewer, but those issues are lightly handled by the writers, who had the common sense of treating the film in such manner, instead of throwing it one's face. In fact, it shows how resilient little Ludovis is in spite of all the rejection he suffers at the hands of his peers, as well as the adults, who should have a better understanding of the situation.

Little Georges de Fresne does excellent work under Mr. Berliner's direction. He is never bratty and one's heart goes to him because no child should suffer for something they didn't create and have no control about who they really are.

The R rating ought to be examined more closely. For a film that doesn't have any nudity, violence or sex, that classification seems too extreme by a film that should be watched by a wider cross section.

Thanks to Mr. Berliner for dealing with a taboo with a lot of class.

A total charmer.

[apocalypse later · 9/10 · 1 June 2000]

Why is this wonderful family movie rated "R"? Why, on cable, is this heart-warming gem preceded by warnings of "violence" and "adult content"? Ludicrous! Although told in an almost fable-like manner, "Ma vie en rose" is an all-too-rare depiction of believably real parents and children dealing with life's pressures together. Beautifully written, directed and acted, any child would benefit from watching this utterly delightful and thought-provoking film with their parents and discussing the struggles of little Ludovic and his family. Don't miss the opportunity.

A disturbing film that's more about the trauma of bad parenting than anything else

[TooShortforThatGesture · 6/10 · 22 April 2005]

I find myself at an unusual loss trying to decide how to rate this film. All in all, I think I don't think I liked the film, but some of that is due to problems in the film while some stems from problems in the characterizations and the degree to which I was bothered by how the parents of the child related to him. I also think that it is ultimately a sad film that is hurt by the attempt to attach a sort of sunny "everything's gonna be OK" ending.

In parts, I think this film does a great job of portraying how a young boy, who might be effeminate or who might be gay or who might be transsexual, experiences the world as his personality begins to come into conflict with the ways in which a the world expects a young boy to behave. I think it captures well the sense of confusion and panic that can occur to any child when the sense of a warm, safe family environment is suddenly punctured when it bumps up against societal expectations --- when YOU aren't doing anything different than before, but suddenly everyone is unhappy with you.

I do feel that the reactions of the community to this child seemed over-the-top and unrealistic. The idea that the whole neighborhood would band together to ostracize a family who has a 7-year old boy who likes to wear dresses and play with dolls is hard to believe. Of course, we live in a world where in the same week, the Texas legislature can vote 135-6 to ban gay foster parents while the Connecticut Senate votes 26-8 to allow allow same-sex civil unions, so geography may be destiny, and maybe there really are parts of France where parents would sign a petition to oust an effeminate 7-year from his school and the school would agree.

To me the emotional heart of the movie was in how the parents behaved, rather than in how the child was reacting. I was horrified by many of the things they said and did (or didn't say and didn't do) to their son as the movie went on. One of things in this movie that left me sad is that, while I think we are supposed to believe at the end that all is well and that the parents have accepted their son as he is, there is really nothing in their behavior throughout the rest of the movie that helps you believe this. They both reject him so thoroughly and are ultimately so MEAN to him (especially the mother, who on more than one occasion blames him to his face for their troubles) that one has to think they will continue to do so. They seem to under-react to the freezer incident (which was, after all, a SUICIDE attempt by a 7 year old (!!!!) And, the fact that the family appears so loving and supportive in the beginning of the film (and that the other "straight" children appear happy and well-adjusted) only underscores the horror of what the their other son must be experiencing as HE is rejected by these otherwise supportive parents. But, I also felt that all of the parents' bad behavior was out-of-character given what we are otherwise shown about them in a way that suggests there is a problem with the script/characterizations.

(As an aside, I also found it odd that many conversations in the film that I would expect to take place privately took place with a larger audience - i.e. the child is present when the shrink talks about the boy's behavior, the other children are present when the parents fight about the boy, etc. But I don't know if this is bad writing or if these are just US/France cultural differences in play.)

Either way, and no matter what the end of the movie would have you think, the boy has been pretty battered by how he's been treated (especially by his parents -- it's one thing to have the world against you, but if at any age, let alone 7 years old, you don't have a safe secure home world, you're really screwed) and I don't think you get over that very easily. Heck, he MOVES OUT at the age of 7 to live with his grandmother because everyone recognizes he'll be better off there. And then is effective forced back home because the family is moving. He's lost the innocent security of childhood years before the age that most people are forced to go through that.

So, I didn't hate the movie and it had moments that felt very truthful (I loved when the psychologist tells the boy that there just may be things that his parents will never understand -- I'm just not sure he was at an age to really hear her) but there is a lot of stuff in the movie of which I am suspect and which feels contrived. If it is contrived, there's a problem, but to the extent that it's just reflecting a reality other than what I think exists, then maybe it's good. But, either way, I am bothered by the suggestion in many reviews that this is some sort of "feel-good" movie. At the end of it all, you still have a boy who has been traumatize by this family and neighbors and who is likely to continue to face similar problems for years to come.

Wonderfully touching

[JesNollie · 8/10 · 11 August 2001]

This is a beautiful movie that will touch your heart. A movie about accepting those we love for who they are, and not what we wish they were. It's a very real look at families and how they interact. About how hard it is for a parent to admit, either to themselves or others, that their child may be "different", even when they truly love that child. The child in this movie will steal your heart.

A Touching Walk Down Memory Lane

[deedeerostov · 8 August 2002]

I was once a "child" - full of awe, wonderment, and an overall appreciation of...just - being. Yes, just being!

We were all there at one point in our lives - whether you can, or choose too, remember at all.

That childhood was full of light. That childhood was full of naivete. That childhood was full of love.That childhood was full of innocence.

One day I realized that I was no longer a child. I don't know exactly how - nor when. The "light bulb" just turned on. I became a young adult. I knew "certain" things and realized "other" things. That's the day I lost "that childhood". I knew what other people expected of me.

"That childhood" is what we all long to return to. "That childhood" is the essence of pure love without conditions - and no expectations". That childhood" is what this movie is all about.

As an "unadulterated being" we see ourselves as the center of the universe. It is "our" world which all about us takes part in. "We" are the reason our parents go to work. "We" are the reason a billboard is placed in a certain spot. "We" are the reason for everything. "We" are neither plotters nor planners. "We" are not in it for ourselves - after all - the world is ALL about ourselves - innocently and faithfully we just know this.

Growing up is a slap in the face of "that childhood". There comes a time when all of society plops it's weight on the unconditional love we feel. There comes a time when all of society says to us "Wake up - this world is not yours".

I cried as I watched the real world crashing down on Ludovic.

This is not so much a story about gender identity as it is a story about the loss of "that childhood" innocence.

ROSTOV RATING:

*****Highly Recommended***** *****All Audiences - Ignore Rating***** *****Bring Tissues***** *****Buy/Rent?---->BUY*****

Nicely made film

[harry-76 · 7/10 · 17 May 2000]

"My Life in Pink" is an entertaining, often thought provoking film on the nature of being true to one's self, and of parental and public reaction when the truth expressed is controversial. Interest is maintained throughout through a well crafted production, in which all elements unite and work smoothly. The various points of view of the situation are nicely dramatized, and honestly presented.

I am astonished about some reactions

[ufotds · 8/10 · 31 May 2001]

I am astonished about some reactions

I am amazed to read things like this, "To me, this was not a film about a "disturbed" child, but about parents. The parents made, apparently, no effort to explain the biological difference between boys and girls. Second, nobody enlightened the child on the difference between your secret, internal sensitivities and those that one displays publicly.", have you really not understood this movie or was it me?

Of course this movie is not about a disturbed child! Maybe this movie is about the fact that all people, from the moment they are born, are conditioned to be like this and like that, and especially not to be themselves. Boys have to play with cars and guns, and girls with barby puppets, and most definitely not the other way around, otherwise you should take your kid to a therapist. Boys have to wear trousers and girls skirts or frogs, just check school uniforms, there are still quite some schools where girls may not wear trousers except for the really cold winter months. A child can not explore the world in a natural way, whenever it yells to test the capacity of its lungs, and any adult might dislike that, it is silenced, with other words whenever they are themselves, they are silenced. We are all conditioned like rats in a skinner box and we are no more and no less than rats in a skinner box until we can say f**k you to that society, those politicians, law enforcers, teachers, parents, employers, media, so called friends that don't accept us like we are, etc that gratefully fulfill the role of skinner. Maybe the biological difference between the two sexes is much less clear than most of us think and are people in the first place humans rather than men and women, and maybe hormonal and genetical, there are many stages between "absolute woman" and "absolute man".

I also don't think that the film wants to implement that the boy could have these feelings as a secret, but nobody else may know that. With other words you are saying the same like all the other skinners, whatever you think, try not to give in to it, and keep acting like a robot, wearing your mask because your real self is disgusting and abnormal, and something to be ashamed of. For myself, i am a guy, but i like to wear long skirts, noting to do with gender (there is fundamentally nothing female about a skirt) because the are comfortable and give your legs much more freedom than trousers, but i never wear them when I'm at my hometown, because i just don't feel like being stared at by the local baker, neighbors, etc. I just can't cope with being the weirdo again, and i am like everybody else in this society threatened with being laughed at, being discredited,... if i am myself.

I also read:"Great! Great! Great! I've told everyone I know to see this one! Really a fun, entertaining, charming, sweet film. It will take you emotionally all over the place. But believe me, it is really a great emotional ride. I love to see films like this that show all aspects of life! Enjoy this one with several friends!"

I think this film was everything except charming, entertaining, sweet, fun... I think this film tries to confront people with the DISGUSTING society to which they all contribute, it is a good movie, but it has nothing to do with sweetness and charm and the like. Now sorry for the enraged start that i took, of course everyone understands a movie in their way, and i don't want to sound patronizing, but i was shocked by some reactions.

Imperfect, but original and worth seeing

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 19 June 2012]

A very sweet, well intended, good-natured film about a 7 year old boy who is convinced he's supposed to be a girl, and wants to dress and act accordingly.

His parents' confusion, and inability to deal with the situation are shown without making them monsters, even as it all starts to tear at the fabric of the family, costing the father his job, etc.

What didn't work as well for me was the weaving in of the Tim Burton-esque magical realism/fantasy element of the young boy's dream world. Somehow, in the end, the film felt too light and sunny to really rip at your guts, and yet too dark to just enjoy as a wish fulfillment fantasy of the way the world should be.

So while well worth seeing, it ends up as a little less than it has signs of becoming.

Truly remarkable!

[MovieLuvaMatt · 9/10 · 25 December 2003]

I watched this movie in one of my classes, and I was really impressed by it. I didn't expect much to sympathize with a young boy who wants to dress in female clothing and take on womanly characteristics, but as the film went along I not only felt a sympathy but a connection to him. Anybody who's ever felt alienated, for any reason, should relate to Ludovic's character. Yet at the same time I related to the parents in the film too. It's easy for an audience to say, "Why are the parents being so hard on the kid?" But if I had a son who wanted to dress up like a girl, I wouldn't take it lightly at all. If this were an American movie, it would be treated like an after-school special. (SPOILERS AHEAD) If this were an American film, by the third act, all of Ludovic's peers would've embraced him with open arms, you'd hear some cheesy score and he'd make some "uplifting speech." As a matter of fact, there's a recent movie called "Bruno" (also listed as "The Dress Code") which has an identical plot to this movie, and it is given that corny, sentimental treatment.

"Ma Vie En Rose" is strictly character-driven. There's never a moment where Ludovic's peers treat him with a ton of respect--as it would be in real life. I've expressed it before and I'll express it again--kids and young people are cruel. Their number one goal in life is to torment the lives of others. I am a young person myself and I don't feel like I'm being a hypocrite when I say I'm not part of that majority. The film is also filled with humor. Some of the best movies are touching and powerful, while managing to be very funny at the same time. If you get your hands on this gem, it's a must-see!

My score: 9 (out of 10)

Being Different

[boblipton · 6/10 · 27 July 2021]

Georges Du Fresnes is seven years old (actually, the actor is 13). He also likes to dress like a girl. Everyone freaks out about it except his parents.

Actually, his parents, played by Michèle Laroque and Jean-Philippe Écoffey have some trouble dealing with it, but they love their child, and the local bigots, who accuse her of being a witch, are total nut jobs. Mlle Laroque tries to placate them by cutting De Fresnes' hair, which causes him to announce he wants to live with granny, but the net effect is that family have issues, and they have to deal with them.

That such a mild response could result in this being called ground-breaking just shows how often the same ground needs to be harrowed.

Example of the "cis gaze"

[allisonmmckenney · 4/10 · 27 January 2019]

I watched this movie recently with some of my trans friends, and while it was charming, I also felt disappointed and put off by it.

In feminism, there's the term "male gaze", which refers to movies, stories, etc., being made assuming that the audience is male and showing what would interest and make sense to a male audience; if you're not male, you may have this nagging feeling that it doesn't speak to you or want to. Well, there's a similar situation for trans people -- almost all TV shows, novels, movies, etc., that have trans characters present them them from the point of view of a cis (=non-trans) person. There's no attempt to relate to what it's like to _be_ them.

In this movie, I felt the movie makers tried to make the people around Ludovic understandable, but they didn't go to any trouble to make Ludovic herself relatable. There's no attempt to show how she feels about what's going on or how she comes to do the "weird" things she does. All you see is Ludovic doing some "weird" thing for no obvious reason, then you see the people around her doing things in reaction to what she's done, and when that's sort of played out, you see the next "weird" thing. She feels more like a plot device than a person.

Unfortunately, that's how trans people are portrayed in the mainstream media, too. We're just these weird people who want to live as a sex that most people think we aren't for reasons that make no sense, who are just weird for no reason. Some people think we should be tolerated (humored?), some people think we should be forced to be what they think we should be, and some just wish we would cease to exist. But we're never shown as being simply human. It's pretty alienating.

This is why I won't watch a movie with trans characters that isn't made by someone who is trans. I get enough of the cis perspective in Real Life, I don't need to go to a movie to see the same thing.

I am kind of sad, though: they had a set-up where they could have given the viewers some idea of what it's like to be trans, and they didn't even try.

Loved every minute!

[kevin86 · 9/10 · 6 July 2003]

Wow! I just finished watching this movie today, a few hours ago and was really really surprised by it. Though somewhat weird at times, the powerful performances, thoughtful subject matter, and clever writing just amazed me. Prior to today, I had never heard of the film, which isn't really a big surprise I guess, foreign films in general don't do particularly well in North America on a whole. Yes its sad, but also true.

"My Life In Pink" definately ranks HIGH on the list of spectacular international films for me. I only wish I heard about it sooner but like every other thick headed westerner I was brainwashed into paying to see sub-par movies like "Men In Black", "Lost World: Jurassic Park", "Con Air", and "Face Off" in 1997 instead of this. Those movies weren't horrendous but they didn't have nearly as much depth and meaning as "My Life In Pink".

If you can find the video or DVD or even VCD then pick it up and watch it. Many will not like it at all because they may feel its weird or too taboo for them. But for those of you who are more open minded and are in search of a great piece of film making then this is for you. I felt nothing but sorrow and compassion for young Ludovic all throughout the film. His pain and sorrows, his sadness and loneliness, it brought some tears to my eyes seeing how horrendous he was treated. Everybody looked upon him like a monster. That him wanting to be a girl was outrageous and wrong. Yet again, an accurate interpretation of society. Nowadays your not allowed to be anything that society deems unacceptable. Frankly it sickens me. Whether your gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian, or transgender its your decision and nobody has any right to tell you other wise.

"My Life In Pink" accurately portrays the struggles that hundreds of youth face today. Youth that are struggling to discover their identities, having to deal with family and friends that tease and taunt them for being "different".

I really don't want to say much about the movie because you should experience it without knowing much to get the whole impact of its message. See this movie. Its a prime example of AMAZING French cinema.

A MUST SEE!!!! 4.5 OUT OF 5!!!

Watch out if you have a raw unexposed emotional inner place

[greymumster · 10/10 · 9 March 2005]

Not just a 'weepie' but a heaving-shoulder sobfest. I watched this at The Swiss House near Leicester Square, which is quite a small intimate cinema. I was there on my own, admittedly being a sad git and the house was packed; a fair proportion of whom were gay couples. I go to the cinema a helluva lot and on the Audience Reaction Richter scale this film was a force ten with warnings. It wasn't just the whole gender identity thing which was palpable and heart-wrenching but the powerful evocations of all childhood miseries that choked me up... Like the first day at my new school realising I was the only person wearing a homemade uniform (sorry mum but this has scarred me for life). At the Swiss House, the audience have to take a lift down to the exit and strangers were literally hugging each other because we all knew we had been crying our bloody eyes out unashamedly. I completely ruined my favourite scarf blowing my nose and wiping my mascara off my sodden face. This film just touches a raw emotional inner place so bloody beautifully..Formidable!!

I Missed This One At The Theatres, But Managed To Rent It On Video

[robertvannsmith · 20 January 2000]

The French have been known to make several great movies, in my opinion and this it one of their bests. Georges Du Fresne's stunning performance makes you smile, as well as makes you think. The idea of getting to know yourself has been around for a long time and his character had a long way to go to getting to know himself.

A boy's life as a girl

[Proactivity · 6/10 · 31 December 2003]

This film is not about a young transvestite/cross dresser, neither is it about homosexuality. It's easy to get that impression from the reactions and misinterpretations of Ludovic's parents, but not if you empathise with his perspective. It's a film about a young transsexual. He doesn't just act like a girl, he feels that he IS a girl trapped in a boy's body, with such a passion that he believes he will one day become female. Dressing as a girl and playing with girls toys is an obvious extension of that, and if you truly believed you were or would become a heterosexual girl, marrying your male friend would feel perfectly natural.

The film treats the subject from a non-judgemental viewpoint, contrasting the destruction of family and work relationships against Ludovic's wide-eyed innocence about the consequences of him just being him/herself. In the process of his parents coping with their lack of understanding, they try to mould him into something more socially acceptable and "normal", like forcing a left handed person to use their right hand instead. Adult acceptance only comes in the form of treating it as childhood naïveté, and the film fails to confront the fact that this may not be "just a phase". Given this, the ending is a little weak, abrupt, and too open-ended, but overall it's a tender, emotive, and enjoyable film.

An exceptional film about acceptance

[Loisroselyn · 10/10 · 27 July 2008]

I've just finished earning my master's degree in Psychology. This film fits right in with what I've learned. It is touching and enlightening. I believe that every person should view this film before having children. Accept everyone for who they are and don't try to change them. We live in a diverse world, we should enjoy it instead of manipulating it. Open your eyes. This story is not limited to gender specifications and expectations. It is about being accepted for who we are - period. I highly recommend this film. I rented it from Netflix, so I know that it's available. It's important to recognize the name as "Ma Vie En Rose," rather than "La Vie En Rose."

23 years later, sex education is still the answer

[Camigochi · 7/10 · 26 September 2020]

The first time I saw this movie was in my last year of school, at 17 years old. I only got to watch 30 minutes of the film beause an homophobic classmate was sitting next to me, and at the very beggining he yelled awful insults to the screen that I won't repeat. So inevitably, I insulted him back and got kicked out of the classroom. Any way, I never got to finish the movie until today. It has this very oniric and fanciful scenes full of the dreams of a misunderstood child. Very sweet and detailed vision of childhood, that shows in a caring way the difficulty of being a kid in any society, harder enough to be a trans kid. It kind of reminded me of Tomboy (2011); two very real characters that really need a brave, accepting and loving adult to protect them. What the wounds of a lifetime could, or not, provoke. Let's really think twice before acting and talking to our children.

Nothing quite like it

[Boyo-2 · 10/10 · 16 September 1999]

This movie is fantastic and unique. I love it very much and I am so glad the Golden Globes had the good sense to honor it with a Best Foreign Film win that year. Why wasn't the Academy so smart? The lead actor has a lot of talent and a lot of courage.

Odd Movie About Identity

[gbheron · 7/10 · 22 October 2001]

"Ma vie en rose" is an odd, off-putting French film about a seven-year boy who firmly believes that he should have been born a girl, and that he will grow up to be a woman nonetheless. This is not a comedy, nor is the dramatic content in the least way sexual; the protagonist is a pre-pubescent child. He's actually very innocent in his assertions about his identify. The film's drama comes from the family's response to the child's activities, as the conflict spills out from the family into the neighborhood and job environments. The film's texture, the way the story is told, is very European (and I can't explain what I mean by this). You can just tell it's not an American movie irrespective of the language used to convey the story. If you like this style of movie I recommend it, otherwise give it a pass.

Example of modern society pushing children into the soul crushing socio-cultural illusions of biological sex instead of our genders.

[Ascendingsun · 10/10 · 10 November 2022]

This film was very much instrumental in helping the society to realize how important it is for these children to go on hormones as early as possible to prevent the psychological and physical damage the wrong puberty does to the mind and body of a trans person.

People are waking up to what our conditioned society has been doing to those who didn't fit into their sick norms. If you're not heterosexual or cisgender, you're mentally ill, you're automatically pathologized. That's what this society has been doing for centuries, and it was also happening to women just for existing, they were considered sick and inferior species in our history. The same is now happening with transgender people by trying to erase their existence the same like patriarchal governments used to do in our history.

There's been a widespread propaganda in the west just like in WW2 Germany to indoctrinate trans children into being cisgender or just gender non-conforming, to erase the existence of these uniquely gifted beings, to make it seem like trans people don't exist, that there is no biological basis, the evidence has been there for years for anyone to see how long these people existed throughout the history and how exteremely important it is for them to start transition as early as possible. All human beings deserve to have dignity to live true to themselves. Hormonal transition is not something that should be done in adulthood if they wish to have a healthy good life, and this film makes that point even clearer, lives of old trans people who never transitioned due to social ostracization can also serve as a testimony of what our society does.

Quantum physics is illuminating that our world isn't so much particles as waves... and by definition waves have any number of expressions, translated as physical as well as emotional or social. Considering what we know in science about biological markers of sex that are often in conflict with each other within one body, no one can be defined fully as male or female by the body alone by excluding the brain, our self knowing. And even that self knowing identity can be often influenced by society and is not open to embody both masculine and feminine equally to the best capability their body allows. This is why both men and women have been oppressed for centuries, to the point when men have become afraid to express their vulnerability, as they would look less masculine to others, these labels have been artifficially imposed upon us ideologically and politically, to force us to fit into the society of predator/prey relationships and disconnect us from our unified authentic self expression, not as men or women, but very unique human beings in contrast to each other.

As for why for decades trans women have been treated as adult female humans, and sharing the spaces with their cis counterparts, because our gender identity has a biological basis, this is why transsexual males are in fact born biological females, and always have been seen as females throughout the history where gender played the most important role for its conscious sexual embodiment.

We need to make sure transgender people have their own sovereignty over their body and embody the gender they consciously experience. No one on earth can define or tell others what genders or sex they are, this is a deeply personal thing, because sex is in fact what we embody at a conscious level, it is not defined by a body part thats been compatmentalized and used against our own soveignty and sexual embodiment, against our rights, and our true self.

Let's also not forget that gender has a much longer history than biological sex and its reductive political ideology ever had, people have been using the ancient science of holistic observation of sex based on the presentation of it by people within the society. It was always gender/sexual embodiment that determined biological sex, not the microscopes and our reductionary sexist language. Modern scientism has played its role in indoctrination of human mind to start reducing human beings into definitions based on various compartmentalized body parts, completely ignorant that biological sex is the whole body, including the brain, the largest sex organ of the whole body.

This film very much resonated with me back in the early 2000's. I think this is by far the best film ever made about what it's like being transsexual, I use that old term to stress out the most extreme form of transgender condition, where the body needs to undergo change to alleciate distress. In an ideal world no transgender would need to go through so much self repression and harm, and transition before gender dysphoria did its own damage, which is often irreversible. As most trans people themselves reveal, the surgery and hormonal therapy is bringing mental health back in order, but once they start the journey of living as trans openly, the society makes life harder for them through discrimination and hatred, which can even accumulate to trauma over the years. So the real changes also need to happen within our society by gendering them based on the gender they cosnciously embody, by treating them as human beings, and in my eyes actual heroes and heroines for accomplishing what most people would not dare to do, and that is to take the pain and darkness they were born into, and let it transmute to a higher calling to live as their authentic self and help the humanity, and especially women to free themselves from oppressive unattainable beauty standards and social constructs of sex and sexism that's been designed to reduce our perception of humanity and sex into carnal material objectifications.

There is a difference between trying to fit into social beauty standards dictated by society, and trying to fit into the body to match our gender outside of any societal beauty standards. Most trans people are bringing empowerment to men and women to start to see what it is like to be our true selves outside of any norms of society, by realizing our uniqueness and beauty that is not cultural. And if there's any reason trans people usually try to fit into those standards, it is out of self preservation, otherwise it is an intimate personal battle of trying to align the mind with the body, not the society.

I think this is ultimately what this film is about, being our truest innocent selves, no matter what society says.

I need to state the obvious, queer people are truly helping this world to liberate itself from tyranny by transcending the illusions of materiality and honoring the spirit, a conscious experiential knowledge of I AM, which contains the sexual embodiment of masculine and feminine within the right immutable frequency pattern that seeks anchoring in the body. On the other hand, biological sex means a certain body part that has been compartMENTALIZED and used against our own sovereignty and embodiment, it was a socio-cultural and political construct from the beginning used as a reduction of the whole sexed body into that single definition while ignoring the whole body and self knowing of an individual, the brain, the largest sex organ of the body. Ancient cultures had multiple genders for this reason to honor that sovereignty of the spirit over the body, many wisdom teachers in their tribes knew there was something like sexual embodiment. Male bodied people shared spaces with female bodied people in their tribes if they shared the same gender.

This film is ultimately about freedom to be true to ourselves, which means the authority over our own body and gendered sexual embodiment.

Freedom, freedom!

It isn't about the child

[jtur88 · 7/10 · 8 January 2001]

To me, this was not a film about a "disturbed" child, but about parents. The parents made, apparently, no effort to explain the biological difference between boys and girls. Second, nobody enlightened the child on the difference between your secret, internal sensitivities and those that one displays publicly. Any 7-year-old is capable of understanding these things, and Ludovic would have, too. Third, cross-dressing is much more common in our world than most people think, and Ludovic's childhood feelings are not at all rare, nor are they "bent".

Childhood (and adult) sexual identity ambiguity is not a clear cut yes-or-no proposition. It can take many forms in a vast grey area. While Transvestitism typically associats with Homosexuality, Cross-dressing does not, and virtually all closet Cross-dressers are in fact Hetrosexuals with reasonably successful sex lives. A child at 7 has a very unclear idea of what marriage entails, and his expressed wish to "marry" the other boy is far from being an indication that, with a matured sexuality, L. would have been a homosexual. Sexuality is not yet within his grasp or ken.

SPOILER: I predict that in adulthood, Ludovic becomes a totally heterosexual cross-dresser, well appreciated by women who value his sensitivity. They will be lovely, caring women like his sisters, and not necessarily women with ambiguities of their own like Christine.

ma vie en rose

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 10 August 2021]

A whole lotta heavy handed...like the mom fainting when she sees the cross dressing neighbor boy kissing her son...which is usually the case when film makers tackle the Evil Suburbs. Quel bore!