Cisgender audiences are confronted by an inescapable irony as they watch “Girl,” the arrestingly empathetic debut from Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont. Few narrative dramas (if any) have more sensitively explored the nuances of growing up transgender, the bravery required to transition, and the struggle for self-acceptance that can motivate or define that process. Likewise, few narrative dramas (if any) have more palpably distilled the pain of being deadnamed, the humiliation of being reduced to your body, and the cruelty of being misrepresented as something that you’re not.

So how do we, who can only share in such experiences second-hand, square all that with the fact that the lead character — a 16-year-old ballerina who’s impatiently waiting for her gender-confirmation surgery — is played by a cisgender male actor?

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The more I think about this the more I detest it. Do we really need films about trans people in 2018 which constitute pure misery and self-hatred? This movie isn't interested in shining a light on what trans teens struggle with, it just wants to beat its trans character into the ground so cis people who've never met or spoken to a trans person, never really taken an interest in what it's like to be trans beyond the plot outline bullet points of gender dysmorphia and transition, can gasp and tut in muted, liberal shock (of which I, too, have been guilty). Nearly every review out of Cannes stressed the film's "empathetic" nature but almost all I could see was that being confused for sheer, patronising pity.

men are trash but her father certainly wasn’t! dad of the year

BFI London film festival - Day 2
Curzon Soho

Hmm, I don’t have too many words for this one. On one hand there are scenes in this film that are sweet and endearing but then there are scenes that are vile and downright evil. As for the political side to the film I’m not really the right person to comment on all that so I won’t begin to. I’d be interested to get trans people’s opinions on the film once it drops on Netflix but for now I’m conflicted. It’s like the love child of Billy Elliot, Boys Don’t Cry & Black Swan mixed into an emotional ride that doesn’t really let go.

Certainly moving but the repetitiveness and extremely slow pace hinder what is otherwise a really well made film. All I know is Polster’s amazing performance deserved so much better.

Pretty good. A unique lens on transitioning. Don’t think I’ve seen a film like this where the lead has the complete support of those around her. For the most part she is completely accepted by the world, but still there are lingering issues she must deal with. It feels more true to life and less punishing to watch. To say that the only problem with transitioning would be other people’s bigotry seems disingenuous. 

Anyhow, the elephant in the room here is casting. It definitely hurts the film for reasons I won’t get into, this could be incredibly powerful if they had found someone who was actually transitioning to play the lead. I think there is a masterpiece to be made on this topic, this could have been it if they’d cast the role properly.

The Dad in this is top of the league of best film Dads.

its been more than 24 hours since i saw this and i still dont know how to feel and what i should say about it. i think i just feel sad. the entire time i kept hoping this would be a happy story but it was just so painful to watch. its good, but so very painful. when will we get the feel good films about trans people we deserve.

and fuck that ending.

Para kong pinanood yung buhay ko, yung araw-araw ko, set in a first world country, sa big screen. At some point nakakamanhid na -- but then again hindi naman talaga nauubos ang pain and anxiety caused by gender dysphoria. Anyway...

Great performances by the actors. Great visual devices. I love that the movie used the art of ballet as a milieu since the art's core is self-expression. From the very beginning I knew what the ends is going to be. But riding the experience towards that predictability is also a kind therapy for me. Nakakapagod, oo. Pero cathartic.

I watched it with a friend and we had some compelling opinions. I love movies for their creative visuals and technical storytelling while she prefers 100 times the acting of the actors.

I thought this movie was alright as it was well shot but doesn't get creative with the visual language.
But for her, she thought it was an amazing character study where the actors gave a performance of a lifetime. She understood immediately what the protagonist was expressing through her eyes and was feeling the internal pain.

Through this film I discovered that some movies identifies more with women than with men. I didn't go through a female teenage struggle so I found the protagonist hard to identify.

De Lieve Vrouw Pleinzaal

- PAROOL FILM FESTIVAL #6 -

Girl tells an important story, a heavy story. It apparently got a 25-minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival where it won three prices, including best actor. And I get all that, because the shock factor is high, almost unbearably high. Yet the film distances, and doesn't let emotions in. It is as if we are not allowed to see any positive views during the transformation of the transgender Lara. All the focus is on the battle, on the hardship. There are happy moments, but we can only observe them from the other end of the room. Only when pain takes over again, we get closer and suffer along. This is intended of course, but wouldn't it work better if we were allowed to also share in the joy, so we could somehow identify, and understand?

Cisgender casting concerns put to one side, this is an extremely impressive, deftly directed debut. Dhont has a bright future indeed.

acting was a+ but the last half hour was v dissapointing

LFF REVIEW 2019

the performances are truly staggering. and I love the use of ballet as an analogy for transforming the body. however, this is yet another trans narrative with cis men at the helm. I’d love to see some trans perspectives on this film.