Reviews edited by Mark Adams
mark.adams@
emap.com
REVIEWS
» Tomboy p16 » The Prize p18 » The Future p20 » Familiar Ground p22
» Swans p24 » Vampire p26 » Utopians p28
Tomboy REVIEWED BY MIKE GOODRIDGE
The politics of gender get an unusual exploration in the world of pre-teen kids in Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy, a simple conceit blessed by the same nat- uralistic performances and fluid camerawork that marked out her feature debut, Water Lilies. The story of a 10-year-old girl, a tomboy pre-
tending to be a boy in a new circle of friends, is one built on deception and could easily have trav- elled on a doom-laden road towards discovery and tragedy. Instead, Sciamma avoids the obvious and takes a more gentle route, honing in on the details of interactions between children, the joy - ful playtime, the rituals and the arrival of pre- conceptions which will shape their prejudices as they grow older. Though it does not possess the dramatic
momentum to achieve the profile of, say, Ma Vie En Rose or Wild Reeds on an international level, this small French gem will find distribution every- where. Its slot as the opening-night film of both Panorama and Generation in Berlin this week can only help draw attention to it as the film begins a no-doubt busy run on the festival circuit. One of Sciamma’s achievements here, as in
Water Lilies, is to cast brilliant young actors, namely Zoé Héran as the tomboy Laure and Mal- onn Lévana as her six-year-old sister, Jeanne. Laure, Jeanne and their parents (Cattani, Demy)
move to a new neighbourhood in the summer holidays. Laure looks, dresses and acts like a boy
n 16 Screen International in Berlin February 12, 2011
PANORAMA/ GENERATION
Fr. 2011. 82mins Director/screenplay Céline Sciamma Production companies Hold Up Films & Productions, Arte France Cinéma, Lilies Films, La Région Ile de France, Canal Plus, Arte/ Cofinova 6 International sales Films Distribution, www.
filmsdistribution.com Producer Bénédicte Couvreur Cinematography Crystel Fournier Editor Julien Lacheray Main cast Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani, Mathieu Demy, Yohan Ventre, Noah Ventre, Cheyenne Lainé, Ryan Bonbeleri
and neither of her parents minds. Her mother is heavily pregnant with a third child, a boy this time, and her father is away at work during the week. Laure soon makes friends with a local girl
called Lisa (Disson), and introduces herself as ‘Michael’, a boy. Lisa in turn introduces her to the gang of kids who roam around the neighbour- hood in a pack, and pretty soon Michael has blended in, playing football with the boys with his top off, responding to Lisa’s advances with innocent kisses and handholding. Laure even constructs a fake penis out of mod-
elling clay, which she inserts in her trunks when the gang goes swimming one afternoon. When Lisa comes to call one day and asks for
Michael, Jeanne answers and plays along with the deception, swearing silence to their parents so long as Laure takes Jeanne out with the other kids.
Of course, discovery by parents and friends is
not far away, but in the meantime Sciamma depicts the ways children conform to gender stereotypes — or at least, to notions of masculinity and femininity that they believe are correct. What is ironic is the fact Laure/Michael is most aggres- sive in embracing those stereotypes in an effort to be what she thinks is a convincing boy, whether gallantly fist-fighting over his sister’s honour or scoring goals at football. You can see why Lisa falls for him. Héran gets it just right. Not only is she/he
piercingly photogenic, but she affects the self- conscious swagger of a boy with striking authen- ticity. It is sometimes difficult to think you are looking at a girl, and you understand why Laure believes it unfair she is not a boy, especially when her newborn brother is born with his gender handed to him on a plate. Lévana is another natural, who oozes wit and
wisdom well beyond her six years. The relation- ship between the two siblings is full of tender- ness, and Sciamma captures little moments between them which inform the film’s world of children. But even if it is a world of children, the rigid
little community is a microcosm of wider society. How Laure will evolve in a culture that wants to pigeonhole her is open to personal interpretation. Some audience members will think it is just a phase; others that she will carry her gender frus- trations into adulthood.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68