Spotlight on a Film

Looking for a thought-provoking film to watch? Unfortunately for the rest of my town, I own Blockbuster's only copy of Ma Vie en Rose, a Belgian film that explores the gender identity of Ludovic, a beautiful seven-year-old French boy who wants nothing more than to be a girl. He believes there's been some sort of mistake and expects a miracle to come along and fix "the problem".

The family is tested and endures extreme suburban prejudices causing them to blame Ludovic for the loss of the father's job, loosing family friends, Ludovic getting asked to leave his school and eventually having to move. In the end, the family comes together having learned a lot about life and love.



I always brought this movie up in the early childhood class I taught and prompted a discussion about the expectations of gender during play. The idea of a child this young feeling so strongly about his identity when it contradicts everything society teaches us is "the norm" tends to provoke college students in a rural and predominantly white Christian area. Provocation can be a good thing, and this film does it with much sensitivity.

The film is oddly beautiful, colorful, and uplifting and, at the same time, extremely sad. The character, Ludovic, is so wonderful, but his hardships are distressing to watch. If you're interested, you can check out the video clips at the movie's main site. Sony didn't do the movie too much justice with the Trailer, but they did include a clip of Ludovic's fabulous dance that makes me very happy and I want to learn one day. It's the clip titled Ludovic Talks With Grandmother And Dreams Of Being A Girl.