"Ma Vie en Rose" (My Life In Pink) is the story of 7 yr old
Ludovic, a little girl born in a little boy's body. For him,
nothing is more natural than to change his gender. As a hopeful and
sensitive child, he truly believes that a miracle is going to
happen. He will be a girl, no doubt about it, and he's in love with
Jerome, his school mate, and son of his father's colleague.
Initially a source of amusement, an outrage begins in their suburb
when the two boys are discovered pretending to get married. The
family begins to realize with horror that his desire to be a girl
isn't just a little boy's fantasy. They try to make him change his
mind, to no avail. The situation turns into a real-life drama of
intense reactions from neighbors, friends, and teachers, resulting
in a profoundly optimistic ending.
The film turns out to be at least as much about Ludovics family
and his neighborhood community in suburban Brussels. Director Alain
Berliner, working from a script he wrote with Chris vander Stappen,
has fashioned from what, at first blush, might seem merely an
eccentrically charming comedy a thoughtful exploration of
innocence, individualism, social values, and childrearing.
Perhaps the greatest success of Ma Vie En Rose is its
evenhandedness. Although the call to tolerance and respect is
unmistakable, there is nothing polemical about it; Berliner enables
the audience to see the situation, by turns, from various
characters viewpoints. And in those passages when the director
involves both the audience and the adult characters in Ludovics
prepubescent perspective of the world, the effect in terms of
both the films seriousness and its sheer entertainment value is
masterful: were in a childs world of endless promise and
inexpressible pain; of freshness and fear; of life lived as an
unfolding storybook miracle, predictable, though somehow never
before written; of never knowing what may happen next. During a
viewing of Ma Vie En Rose, one is aware of the smiles raised, the
thoughts provoked. It may be only later, however, that the full
scope of the films originality and intelligent imagination is
appreciated.
As Ludovic, young Georges du Fresne seems perfect: Hes alternately
a wide-eyed child, wide-open with the wonder and joy of living, and
a shrewd observer, a natural outsider who is already beginning to
learn the ropes of survival in a world that would subvert his
dreams. His parents, Hanna and Pierre, are beautifully played by
Michele Laroque and Jean-Philippe Ecoffey. Laroque, particularly,
reinforces the rich psychological and emotional range of the film;
her Hana loves unconditionally up until the point at which the
family begins to suffer socially and economically. (After Ludovic
dons a dress once too often, questions about his behavior produce a
chain reaction of destabilizing events: Pierre loses his lucrative
job, Ludovic is expelled from his school, and the family must leave
its upper-middle-class neighborhood for a townhouse tract
development.) Adding to the familial mix of perplexity and
affection is Helen Vincent, who portrays Ludovics festive
grandmother with age-defiant worldliness. When Ma Vie En Rose arcs
from almost fabulistic comedy to a more probing, naturalistic
consideration of la comedie humaine, it doesnt lose its
exhilarating unpredictability or its buoyancy: the film accrues
seriousness and depth without sacrificing its energetic insistence
that we see with fresh eyes. Repeatedly, as the story takes on more
layers, throwing tougher questions into the familys path and
upping the ante of audience sympathy, director Berliner superbly
juxtaposes lyrical fantasy with the harsh, mundane compromises of
reality. One of the subliminal texts of the film might be that a
true sense of joie de vivre is not achieved by an overly cautious
editing-out of human experience but by inviting all of our
differences to the table.
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/mavieenrose/
