Written by: Céline Sciamma
Starring: Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Sophie Cattani, Mathieu Demy, Jeanne Disson
Rating: [4/5]
The developmental stages in childhood change on a dime as their brains continue to form and discover more about themselves and who they want to be. The young kid we follow in Tomboy finds themselves in a phase that confuses everyone around them as they try to establish their own identity as this feature explores it in such a caring and loving manner. Gently crafted but emotionally impactful, this feature demonstrates that Céline Sciamma just knows how to craft stories centered on children and their intricacies.
Moving into a new Parisian neighborhood, Laure (Zoé Héran) mostly keeps to herself but then sees a group of children playing outside. She decides to go make friends and pass as a boy, which initially endears them to her even when continuing to act as if everything’s normal back at home. This double life begins to become difficult to maintain with the more time she spends with these new friends.
Tomboy contains so many wonderful layers in the ways it explores the gender expression of Laure as she passes as Mickaël when with her friends. As Celine Sciamma has stated, this feature could have different readings depending on what perspective the viewer walks into the story with. This feature adequately suits someone looking back at a childhood where they identified as a woman but had a tomboy personality when young or in an other case where a transgender male begins to want to live out their life in their true identity. Each reading allows for such an enriching experience because of the way this feature gets crafted as we follow Laure through this journey.
Getting to the point of making friends when moving to a new area could take anyone back to a time when they started fresh. A nervousness steeped in fear and this gets elicited right from the onset, which makes the friendships she makes with the other children something so precious, especially with Lisa (Jeanne Disson). They strike a beautiful friendship between them but one that will eventually hit a snag where Laure would eventually have to break some news. Having Lisa visit her apartment and meet her parents would inevitably cause the awkwardness of surprise of Laure passing as Mickaël and the two different versions the two parties know. However, through the narrative we get the beauty in the brevity of this bliss Laure has with her friendships. Deep down she knows it will not last forever, but in this short burst of time, she can feel as if she’s living as her true self when out with these friends and then reverting back when with her family.
In addition to the purity of child friendships, as depicted in this feature, it definitely gets to their blunt cruelty and how they do not care to mince words when situations get contentious. A reality of friendships and when individuals do not get along. Kids just know how to go for the jugular metaphorically in arguments especially when things get physically violent between them. It helps create this sense of tension and fear if Laure can continue to pass off as a boy in front of them. She cannot fully act like a boy when with them like when the boys just whip out their penises to pee on a bush where she needs to run into the forest and find a more secluded area to do her business because of the genitalia she’s born with. Getting to the point where the inevitable will be revealed to them brings plenty of nervousness and unease because we know these kids do not have even the most basic understanding of what Laure’s experiencing with her identity, making the prospect of them learning about her something that could go wrong very quickly.
Plenty of props must go to the young Zoé Héran with her layered performance at such a young age in displaying this fracture in how she must act in front of her family and her friends. At such a young age where she can ambiguously pass off as either gender, Héran sells this particular fluidity very well in her performance as we go through this struggle with her. This feature asks plenty from a child performer to carry the story and she undoubtedly excels here thanks to the direction of the masterful Céline Sciamma. The way she frames everything in this feature demonstrates her ability to capture childhood experiences and the inner beauty within them. A majority of her filmography centers around emotional moments in children’s lives and each of them carries a distinct power.
Difficult to watch in moments because of the inevitable truth of the matter getting revealed but also incredibly sweet in those moments of bliss for Laure, Tomboy serves as yet another winner for Céline Sciamma. It exhibits both the best and worst elements of childhood friendships but through it all, the honesty jumps out making the feature something so specific and ultimately powerful. We get a tremendous child performance at the center of it all in a feature to serve as the tapestry for the difficulty of gender expression at a young age and how kids deserve the room to figure out themselves even if parents want to answer all of the questions for them.
Films with Josh 
