Hi everyone!
We’re back with another Netflix Original, this time a Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Motion Picture. It lost to “Roma” (Episode #352), which was our number two film from last year, but that says nothing about today’s film. For a few other Golden Globe nominees and winners, check out our recent reviews for “Isle of Dogs” (Episode #368), “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Episode #378), Ryan’s review for “The Favourite” (Episode #379), One Movie Spouse’s review for “Mary Poppins Returns” (Episode #380), and Garrett Wright’s reviews for “Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse” (Episode #381) and “Vice” (Episode #388). You can check out all our Golden Globes reviews at our website, onemoviepunch.com using the Golden Globes 2019 blog tag.
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Here we go!
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Today’s movie is “Girl” (2018), the Netflix Original international drama directed by Lukas Dhont, and written for the screen in collaboration with Angelo Tijssens. The film follows Lara (Victor Polster), a transgender girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina, but suffers discrimination and isolation because of her gender identification. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Motion Picture at the 2019 Golden Globes.
Before we go any further, let me say that this film should have a trigger warning for graphic self-harm. And in a break from our year two format, I will be talking about that scene, which occurs towards the end, as part of the review. So, if you don’t want this film spoiled for you, or if you are triggered by depictions of self-harm, then pause now and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Everyone else: see you after the first clip.
Spoilers ahead.
I wanted to start this review by talking a little bit about the transgender community, and how that community fits, and doesn’t fit, within the larger LGBTQ community. It may seem strange to lump together two distinct groups of people, one based on sexual preference, one based on gender identity. Sure, there may be some overlap between the two communities, but grouping them together was more of a function of the rest of heteronormative society lumping them together as so-called sexual deviants. And when push literally came to shove, it was the two communities together that kicked off the movements for LGBTQ rights at the Stonewall Uprisings in 1969, along with smaller uprisings around the nation.
Gender expression and gender identity still bother many folks. Many people still have trouble accepting that gender dysphoria is a real psychological/physical condition. Many more have trouble accepting people who choose to identify outside their immediate biological sex. I mention all this up front because while the LGB part of the community has seen profound advancements in acceptance in the past twenty years, the TQ part of the community still struggles in the background, just as the whole community struggles to include transgender folks within society. One way to help mainstream other forms of gender identity is through cinema, which gives us a glimpse about the challenges faced by transgender people. And one of those challenges, especially for transgender adolescents, is bullying.
“Girl” drops the viewer into the life of Lara, born Victor, after she has been accepted into a ballet academy on a trial basis. Her family, which includes her father Mathias (Arieh Worthalter) and her brother Milo (Olivar Bodart), both of which support her choice of gender identity, so much so that Mathias is helping Lara with preparing for gender-reassignment surgery. Her story, at least initially, is based on the true story of a transgender female dancer named Nora Monsecour, who attempted to be admitted into a ballet academy, but was rejected. In effect, today’s film serves as a kind of “what if?” for Nora’s story. Victor Polster, along with her father, are undeniably excellent in their roles, and Lukas Dhont is effective in telling the story cinematically.
Lara knows she has to work harder than the other girls, especially on her pointe work. For those not familiar with the ballet, that’s when you see ballerinas walking on the tips of their toes, and it takes a great deal of practice, strength, balance, and conditioning, which Lara has not had, and is more difficult for biologically male bodies. She’s determined to succeed as much as she yearns to be accepted by her fellow students, male and female, for who she is. She’s also having a sexual awakening, trying to understand her developing sexual preferences. Her struggles multiply as she begins her hormone therapy, and like many adolescents, begins to struggle with body image as she waits for the surgery. And that takes us to some difficult places, thematically, which forms the basis of the controversy surrounding the film.
The biggest controversy surrounding the film relates to Lara’s acts of self-harm. We get a preview of that self-harm at the beginning, as she ices her ear lobes to give herself earrings. It’s an act of teenage defiance that happens quite a bit, and aside from the occasional puncture infection, results in very little lasting harm. Like most teenagers, she is impatient, struggling with waiting for the body she wants, and that’s when the self-harm accelerates, as she begins taping back her genitals while she’s at school, leading to infections that delay her surgery, and forcing her to stop dancing as she heals. As you can imagine, that leads to an emotional nosedive for Lara, losing the two biggest things in her life, and which takes the film towards its controversial conclusion, a graphic scene of self-castration. Yeah. Did you squirm in your seat? I gotta be honest, once I saw where the film was heading, I almost couldn’t watch it, nor would I recommend it to other people without an explicit trigger warning, which Netflix smartly provides at the top of the film.
Why is it controversial, though, despite its graphic nature? After all, extremely high percentages of the transgender community, particularly adolescents, experience bullying and engage in self-harm, the two of which often go hand-in-hand. Her father is the most supportive parent possible when it comes to Lara’s identity, and the bullying she experiences is relatively mild compared to the violent bullying many transgender adolescents face. One criticism I have appreciated is that, much like large swaths of heteronormative society, the film is overly focused on Lara’s sexual organs, so much so that it takes away from appreciating the rest of the film. We can’t focus on the glimpses of what an accepting family and community life should look like for transgender children and adolescents, because we’re always shocked back into self-harm. We definitely need to talk about self-harm within the transgender community, and the factors that drive it, but I don’t know if we should sensationalize it. And honestly, I would like to see more films about the transgender community that are positive and empowering. Got any suggestions in that vein? I’m taking all recommendations for the folks who made it this far in the review.
“Girl” (2018) is a controversial look at transgender adolescence, offering glimpses of a more accepting world, while also doubling down on its more controversial scenes. The acting and direction is stunning, but the story ends up being more sensational than insightful, which will ruin the experience for many. Fans of transgender films, especially those with a very strong stomach, should definitely check out this film. Everyone else, please do so based on your own comfort level and heed all trigger warnings.
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%(CERTIFIED FRESH)
Metacritic: 73
One Movie Punch: 8.5/10
“Girl” (2018) is rated Rand is currently playing on Netflix.
