Ma Vie En Rose (1997)

Starring: Michèle Laroque, Jean-Phillipe Écoffey, Hélène Vincent, Georges Du Fresne, Danielle Hanssens

First, the Lowdown: A 7-year old boy wants to be a girl. Which drives the grown-ups in his life crazy.

The Fabres have just moved into their new house, in a very suburban neighborhood. To celebrate their arrival, they throw a housewarming party, inviting everyone around. At the party, the head of the Fabre household, Pierre, introduces his wife and children to their new neighbors. But the introductions are thrown off when their youngest son, Ludovic, shows up – wearing his sister’s dress and makeup.

Ludovic wants to be a girl. He wants it with the same kind of fever and intensity most boys his age reserve for a favorite birthday present. At first his parents thought it was just a stage that all children go through to establish an identity. But then Ludovic starts playing with Jérôme, the son of his father’s boss. It would’ve been a nice afternoon if Jérôme’s mother hadn’t caught them – pretending to get married to each other (with Ludovic in a dress belonging to Jérôme’s dead sister.) Needless to say, what his parents thought would be a “phase” is quickly turning into a more serious problem.

Things quickly spiral out of hand for the Fabres: the more they try to force Ludovic to act like other boys in his gender, the more he finds himself drawn away from it. Even more disconcerting for the Fabres than their child’s “confusion” is how the neighborhood is reacting to it – countering polite speech in public with harsh sentiments in private. The tension reaches a boiling point when Ludovic changes costumes with a girl playing Snow White during a school play.

I always find it interesting how even the most enlightened and liberal-minded parents will suddenly panic when it turns out their own child is gay. It’s like it’s easier to support other people’s children.

Watching this movie did make me think – what would I do in this situation? I consider myself pretty open-minded, and I know that either of my children could feel comfortable being open about their sexuality (whatever it is) to me. Gender dysphoria (discontent with one’s biological gender) opens a new can of worms, though, especially if it manifests at a young age. It’s one thing for parents to be comfortable with their child acting outside of socially-accepted gender roles at the home, but what about the school? I wouldn’t want to discourage my child from acting in a way that pleased him/her - and was healthy for their emotional/physical growth - but it would be naïve of me to expect other parents, teacher, and authority figures to be as understanding. The only solution I can think of would be to establish boundaries for the child as far as when and where he/she can be comfortable acting on those desires – until the child was of an age to start making informed decisions on their own (like his/her mid-teens).

The thing that’s interesting about Ma Vie En Rose is this – it doesn’t get preachy. It teeters on the edge a few times, but doesn’t soapbox at all. Another interesting quality is Ludovic and how his character is developed. When he is forced to act more masculine by his parents, Ludovic suddenly finds himself rejected by his peers who keep treating him like he’s effeminate – which only deepens his confusion.

Line of the Movie: “To make a baby, parents play tic-tac-toe. When one wins, God sends Xs and Ys. XX for a girl, and XY for a boy. But my X for a girl fell in the trash, and I got a Y instead.”

Four stars. Those who live by the pineapple, die by the pineapple.