Céline Sciamma is a French writer-director of multiple films that have to do with the fluidity of gender and sexual identity among girls and women. I can’t express enough how much her films have moved me, opened my eyes, and inspired me as a filmmaker. Sciamma is the creative genius behind Tomboy, a film I consider to be in my top five favorite movies of all time. It’s one that’ll make you laugh, one that’ll make you cry, and one that’ll connect you to the significance of your own identities.

 

Tomboy is a 2011 drama film about ten-year-old Laure who presents themselves as a boy to the other kids in the community. When asked her name, she responds “Mickäel.” 

 

(Side note: I use the pronoun “she” in the article because the title suggests that the child is a girl-- despite their identity as a boy. For analytical purposes, I’ll interchangeably use the pronouns she and they.) 

 

The first few minutes of the film doesn’t tell us much about who the child is. Laure is presented with short hair, a plain shirt and shorts, and for that matter, one might even assume that Laure is a boy if we weren’t given the title of the film right away. Watching this for the first time myself, I applauded Laure’s parents for letting her express herself the way she identifies… or, at least I thought they did...

 

Early on in the film, Laure meets a girl named Lisa, to whom she introduces herself as Mickäel. As the new kid in the neighborhood, Laure/Mickäel finds a group of friends with whom she spends some time watching from a distance. At first glance, she seems lonely and detached, but it soon takes a turn when we see her jumping into a game of soccer. We truly see this transformation of Laure into Mickäel when she slips her shirt over and off her head as do the other boys. This is ultimately the point where her identity as a “her” shifts into a “him.” 

 

In the film industry, these stories are often hidden gems (emphasis on the hidden). The stories of lgbtq+ characters are hardly ever in the mainstream entertainment, and much less are female lgbtq+ characters. Laure’s transformation of gender identity is one that many can relate to, and unfortunately, one that is overshadowed by those that adhere to social norms, those that the industry considers to be “better sellers.” Tomboy is so simple in its nature, but so complex in that we see the gears constantly shifting in Laure’s/Mickäel’s head with the transformation of their identity. 

 

Later in the film, Laure encounters a problem when Lisa shows up at the door. When Lisa arrives and tells Jeanne, who is Laure’s six-year-old sister, she is looking for Mickäel, the pieces of the puzzle begin to click for her. She confronts Laure and asks: “Why are you doing this? You pretend to be a boy.” The male/female concept of gender is readily ingrained into children’s minds because it’s everywhere-- from gendered colors to clothing departments to toys to television. But, what many people fail to realize is that this limited idea of gender identity is very much malleable. The film does a beautiful job in showing that through Jeanne when she later has a conversation with a friend about siblings. The conversation goes like this: 

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Jeanne: “Do you have a big brother or a big sister?” 

Friend: “A big sister”  

Jeanne: “I have a big brother, which is better.” 

Friend: “Why is it better?” 

Jeanne: “‘Cos a big brother can protect you.”

 

Tomboy is a film you must watch, and for that purpose, I left my writing without any spoilers. It’s a movie to watch with friends, parents, siblings, and especially younger siblings/family members. We can change the future by unteaching the conventional ideas of sexuality and gender, and that all starts with exposing the young generation to films (and therefore ideas) like this one.