Les lèvres gercées (2018) User Reviews

Delicately handled to make the key moment more meaningful without overegging it

[bob the moo · 9 March 2019]

This short animation deals with transgender issues in terms of how they affect one person in one situation, but more generally of course the one experience here is far from unique; what I mean is more that it looks at it on a personal level, not politics, or with lots of debate over trans people in sports, what bathroom can be used, or anything like that - and instead looks at the person. This person is a teenage boy who fails to talk to his parents; his father is never in the film as he is working late one presumes, and the mother is busy and distracted at best - and sees her sons situation as an inconvenience to her at worst. It is these series of small moments that lead to the final moment, which finally impacts the mother, and this moment in the film is better for the way it is built to.

By seeing the reaction of the mother, her inability to see something is wrong, it is easy to see her side because I think many people would be there at least to some degree - at very least it would be 'normal' to be so busy that there is not a natural space for a child to coax their way to broaching such a topic. Likewise, while not a reaction I'd hope to find in myself - I can at least recognize the frustration at a child "playing up" and how that frustration would take pole position ahead of a thoughtful attempt to understand a teenager's actions. At the same time the film lets us see the teen's struggles well - so we carry both into that final moment; a final moment which is impacting for its simplicity and lack of melodrama and fireworks.

Well worth seeing for its delicate simplicity.

Powerful short animation film

[ClariSays · 10/10 · 28 September 2020]

Of all the short animation films I watched, I can say that this one is the most powerful. Why? Well, for a few simple reasons.

First, the animation style is a good choice as it was able to set the mood of the entire film. Second, the scenes and dialogues are on point. They're honest scenes and lines that anyone who is experiencing troubles in life can attest to that. And despite the short running time, Chapped Lips (Les Lèvres Gercées) was able to leave its audience some very thought-provoking questions.

"What happens when I die? Will I be a girl then?"

Yes, Chapped Lips' (Les Lèvres Gercées) theme is gender identity. The kid (or, maybe teen) in the film has been trying to speak to his mom. He doesn't know how but the more he tries, the harder it gets. It's devastating and exhausting.

Besides a judgmental society, family can be insensitive, too. That is why I recommend this film to be watched by young adults and older. They need to realise that their silence over this matter is not a good approach.

It would also be great to educate the younger ones because they, too can be mean and rude to others. But this task falls unto their parents/ guardians hands. Moreover, there are also other issues that need to be addressed early. I hope that besides parents, older siblings, godparents and grandparents help educate the younger ones properly to avoid any unwanted situation which often leads to a sorrowful one.

Since this is only a short film, I hope you find time to watch it, too.

special

[Kirpianuscus · 1 October 2019]

The theme of film is familiar to many of us. Debates, pledges, newspaper materials, TV and radio analysis. Books. The clash between parents and children, the eccentricity of the last, the addiction of entertainment and ordinary day problems for the first. The impossibility of dialogue and the web of frustrations. But the end of film propose the question who seems, in so many occasions, insignificant. It does it in inspired - precise manner . A problem of identity, who , for many of us, it is easy and comfortable to ignore. And it does in the best way - with wise delicacy, proposing the fair question of the child.