Tomboy (2011)

Directed by: Celine Sciamma | 84 minutes | drama | Actors: Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani, Mathieu Demy, Yohan Ventre, Noah Ventre, Cheyenne Lainé, Ryan Bonbeleri

Just like in her debut, ‘Naissance des pieuvres’ (2008), French filmmaker Céline Sciamma focuses on the experience of a young girl in its follow-up ‘Tomboy’ (2010). The boyish, ten-year-old girl Laure moves with her father, pregnant mother and six-year-old sister Jeanne to an apartment in a city unknown to her. It’s summer vacation. Looking for peers to play with, Laure meets Lisa and after a few seconds of hesitation introduces herself as Michael. Whether she’s doing this premeditated, or – more likely – because Lisa seems to think she’s a boy, Sciamma can’t decide. It doesn’t matter. From that moment on, Laure is a boy and it doesn’t take long before she is included in the group of friends she looked at so longingly just before. It offers Laure the chance to really start over, to make new friends in a new environment.

A friendship quickly grows between Lisa and Michael. From Lisa, that attraction stems from a cautious infatuation. “You’re different from the others,” she says, when Michael deliberately keeps his distance from playing football. Michaël/Laure finds Lisa’s attention very pleasant, although it remains a constant balance between the fear of being discovered and the tension of pretending to be a boy. It produces tense moments, for example when all the boys go pee, or when the group of children goes swimming in a lake. At home nobody notices. The family is very close, but because mother has to rest a lot because of the imminent birth, the loving moments together are few. Laure’s cute, very girlish sister Jeanne is often alone and it is therefore not surprising that she is the first to be confronted with the double life that Laure leads.

As in her first film, Sciamma has succeeded in subtly allowing lifelike characters to tell a small and sensitive story. She does not use a highlighter to emphasize incidents, but paints history with beautiful, poetic pictures. The atmosphere in and around the apartment complex is very well created. The games the kids play, the conversations they have, the looks they throw at each other and the way they look when they think no one sees them: it’s perfect. Family life is also very authentic. Just as ‘Naissance des pieuvres’ benefited from strong young actresses, ‘Tomboy’ is also carried by an excellent and promising cast. Not only Zoé Heran is incredibly good as the androgynous Laure, her younger film sister Levana Malone is also a remarkable talent. Thanks to her captivating gaze and remarkably intelligent remarks, she easily wins over the audience. ‘Tomboy’ is a soft, sensitive and impressive film and Céline Sciamma is still a director to watch.