Tomboy (2011 film)

2011 film by Céline Sciamma

Tomboy

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Céline Sciamma
Screenplay by| Céline Sciamma
Produced by| Bénédicte Couvreur
Starring| Zoé Héran
Malonn Lévana
Sophie Cattani
Mathieu Demy
Jeanne Disson
Cinematography| Crystel Fournier
Edited by| Julien Lacheray
Music by| Para One

Production
companies

Hold Up Films
Lilies Films
Arte France Cinéma

Distributed by| Pyramide Distribution

Release date

* 20 April 2011 (2011-04-20)

Running time

| 82 minutes[1]
Country| France
Language| French
Budget| $1 million[2]
Box office| $4.3 million[3]

Tomboy is a 2011 French drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma.[4] The story follows a 10-year-old gender non-conforming child, who moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holiday and experiments with their gender presentation, adopting the name Mickaël.[5] The film opened to positive reviews, with critics praising the directing and the performers, particularly Zoé Héran as the lead.[6][7][8]

Tomboy was released on DVD-Video and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2012,[9] and in the United States on 5 June 2012.[10]

## Plot

[edit]

Laure is a 10-year-old girl whose family moves to a new address in Paris. Laure sees a group of boys playing outside the window and goes to play with them, but they disappear quickly. Instead, Laure meets Lisa, a neighborhood girl. Lisa assumes that Laure is a boy and asks for Laure's name. After a moment's thought, Laure comes up with the male name "Mickaël". Lisa then introduces Mickaël/Laure to the rest of the neighborhood children, stating that Mickaël is the new kid in the apartment complex. Mickaël becomes friends with Lisa and the boys, playing soccer with them. When invited to go swimming, Mickaël cuts a one-piece swimsuit into male swim briefs, and makes a clay penis to put inside.

Over time, Lisa and Mickaël become closer, and Lisa eventually kisses Mickaël. Mickaël also becomes increasingly accepted by the group of boys. One day while playing, Lisa makes up Mickaël's face and comments: "You look good as a girl." Mickaël goes home hiding her face under a hoodie, but Laure's mother says she likes it, encouraging her to be more feminine.

When Lisa comes by the apartment to look for Mickaël, she runs into Laure's precocious six-year-old sister Jeanne instead. The conversation makes Jeanne realize that Laure has been presenting as a boy. Jeanne confronts Laure and wants to tell their parents, but when Laure promises to take her along on all of Laure's outings for the rest of the summer, she quickly becomes happy to have a big brother, which she says is "way better" than having a big sister. She also helps cut Mickaël's hair to be more boyish, and promises to keep Mickaël's secret.

After Mickaël has a fight with one of the boys for pushing Jeanne, the boy and his mother come to Mickaël's door to tell Mickaël's mother about her son's bad behavior. Laure's mother is quick to understand and plays along, but after the visitors have left, she scolds Laure for "pretending to be a boy". Jeanne understands Laure's predicament and does her best to support her sibling emotionally. Laure's mother forces Laure to wear a dress and takes Laure to the apartment of the boy that Laure hit, and also to Lisa's apartment. Lisa is stunned to see Mickaël in a dress and runs off without a word.

Deeply embarrassed, Laure goes to the woods. After a time there, Laure takes off the blue dress, leaving on a tank top and boy-style shorts. Walking away from the discarded dress, Mickaël sees the other children in the distance. Mickaël can hear them talking, speculating about whether Mickaël is a girl or not. When they spot Mickaël, the boys chase and capture Mickaël and say they're going to see if Mickaël's really a girl. Lisa stands up to them and tells them to leave Mickaël alone. But when they tell Lisa: "You kissed him. If it's a girl, that's disgusting, isn't it?" Lisa agrees and reluctantly looks in Mickaël's shorts, with Mickaël in tears but letting her. Lisa is shocked. The boys and Lisa leave while Mickaël remains in the woods, devastated.

Later, it is seen that Laure's mother has given birth to a baby boy. The family spend time together at home, with Laure not wanting to go outside. However, Laure sees Lisa waiting outside the window, and goes out to see her. After a long silence, Lisa quietly asks for Laure's name. "My name is Laure", Laure responds, and smiles a little.

## Cast

[edit]

* Zoé Héran as Laure/Mickaël
* Malonn Lévana as Jeanne, Laure's sister
* Jeanne Disson as Lisa
* Sophie Cattani as Laure's mother
* Mathieu Demy as Laure's father

## Interpretations

[edit]

The film has been described as being about a girl who pretends to be a boy[11][12] or, alternatively, about a transgender boy.[13][14] Film critic Roger Ebert said "If you think you're looking at a boy, you see one. If a girl, then that's what you see."[15]

Céline Sciamma, the writer and director, said "I made it with several layers, so that a transexual person can say 'that was my childhood' and so that a heterosexual woman can also say it." She also said the "movie is ambiguous about Mickaël's feelings for Lisa. It plays with the confusion."[16]

Zoé Héran knew from the script that she would have to appear naked in one brief shot, as her character gets out of the bathtub; her parents were present at the time of filming.[17]

## Reception

[edit]

Tomboy earned positive reviews. Earning 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with a consensus saying, "In tune with the emotion and tribulations of childhood, Tomboy is a charming movie that treats its main subject with warmth and heart."[18] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave three and a half out of four, commenting that Tomboy is "tender and affectionate".[19] In 2017, it was ranked by IndieWire as "the third best lesbian movie of all time".[20] Autostraddle called it "excellent".[21]

### Awards

[edit]

* Jury Award at the 2011 Teddy Awards, given for the best film with LGBT themes at the Berlin film festival.[22]
* Golden Duke, the main prize of the official competition of the 2011 Odesa International Film Festival.
* Audience Award at the 2011 San Francisco Frameline Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
* Best Feature Film at the 2011 Philadelphia QFest Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
* Competition at the 2011 Torino Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
* Nominated for the GLAAD Media Award as Outstanding Film — Limited Release.
* Héran won the Jury Award for Best Performance at the 2011 NewFest Film Festival.
* Héran was nominated for the Young Artist Award as Best Leading Young Performer in an International Feature Film.[23]
* Prix Jacques Prévert du Scénario for Best Original Screenplay in 2012

## See also

[edit]

* 3 Generations (2015)
* Ma vie en rose (1997)
* List of LGBT films directed by women
* Childhood gender nonconformity
* Tomboy

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "TOMBOY (U)". British Board of Film Classification. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
2. ^ "Tomboy (2011) - JPBox-Office".
3. ^ "Tomboy (2011) - Financial Information".
4. ^ Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 120\. ISBN 978-1908215017.
5. ^ "What's Real and What's Not, Interview with Director Céline Sciamma". Popmatters. 15 November 2011. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020.
6. ^ Dargis, Manohla (15 November 2011). "Movie Review — Tomboy". New York Times.
7. ^ Trish Bendix (16 November 2011). "Céline Sciamma talks "Tomboy," "Water Lilies" and why LGBT film festivals are still necessary". AFTERELTON.COM. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
8. ^ "LA Film Fest: Film Guide 2011" (PDF). Los Angeles Times. 12 June 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2013.
9. ^ "Tomboy". 5 March 2012 - via Amazon.
10. ^ "Tomboy". Amazon. 5 June 2012.
11. ^ Fuchs, Ellise (15 November 2011). "What's Real and What's Not: Interview with Director Céline Sciamma". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
12. ^ Phillips, Michael (27 January 2012). "Delicate touch given to gender-bending tale 'Tomboy' another gender-bending tale". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
13. ^ Johnson, Janie Lynn. "Tomboy". Queer Culture Collection (Penn State). Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
14. ^ Brown, Brigid. "15 Films Featuring Transgender Roles". BBC America. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
15. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Tomboy Movie Review & Film Summary (2012)". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
16. ^ "Céline Sciamma talks "Tomboy," "Water Lilies" and why LGBT film festivals are still necessary | AfterEllen.com". Archived from the original on 16 January 2013.
17. ^ "Tomboy" (PDF). centre-image.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
18. ^ "Tomboy". Rotten Tomatoes.
19. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Tomboy movie review & film summary (2012) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
20. ^ Dry, Jude (8 May 2017). "The 15 Best Lesbian Movies of All Time, Ranked | IndieWire | Page 3". www.indiewire.com. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
21. ^ "Now, An Updated Edition of the 102 Best Lesbian Movies of All Time". Autostraddle. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
22. ^ Warbler, Daniel (2 June 2014). "THE OUT TAKE: 10 FANTASTIC TEDDY AWARD-WINNING LGBT FILMS TO WATCH RIGHT NOW". mtv.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
23. ^ "33rd Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.

## External links

[edit]

* Tomboy at IMDb
* Tomboy at Box Office Mojo
* Tomboy at Metacritic
* Tomboy at Rotten Tomatoes
* Tomboy at Lumiere
* Tomboy film trailer at Rocket Releasing

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Céline Sciamma

* Water Lilies (2007)
* Pauline [fr] (2010)
* Tomboy (2011)
* Girlhood (2014)
* Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
* Petite Maman (2021)
* This Is How a Child Becomes a Poet (2024)

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