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Summary: Grrrls and Cinema Movie Review
Review: Ma Vie en Rose is a film by Alain Berliner about a 7-year-old boy, Ludovic, living in France who is faced with oppression from his neighborhood, parents, and school because of his expression of femininity. Her choice to wear a dress shocks many people and her parents think she is "confused" and needs mental assistance because her mother "read it in Marie-Claire" that her actions are "natural...until age 7." Her attraction to Jerome, a neighbor and friend at school, causes an even greater upset in her community.
People react this way because society has taught them to think in binary systems. There are clear-cut gender roles, "boy" and "girl," therefore Ludovic's transgender sexuality is inappropriate. This film challenges the viewer to question society's heteronormative preaching. There is no reason to stigmatize what is foreign to us. This film even conquers the objectification of women as witnessed during a scene in which a woman getting her dress tailored instructs the tailor to shorten her dress because "[her husband] like[s] a bit of lace, even if [he] doesn't] ask." She has internalized her husband's surveillance of her. Pam is an ultra feminized Barbie and the role model for Ludovic through TV shows, movies and music. Pam sells the commodified female role for Ludovic to follow, while at the same time is one of the few persons to befriend her when they meet in Pam's psychedelic parallel universe.
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Summary: gender as performance
Review: Alain Berliner's 1997 debut 'Ma vie en Rose' thematizes heteronormative standards using the example of public responses to a child who is performing a gender identity in discordance with the expectations towards his natural sex. His and his families removal from the neighborhood activities points at prevalent homophobia and transphobia.
Accordingly the main character merely tries to experiment with male gender indentity performance, encouraged by being disciplined for not acting in a traditional boyish manner in public.
The film uses Brechtian distantiation techniques (Verfremdungseffekte) to allude the constructedness of gender. Also, the main character continually produces his identity by means of visual attributes designated as feminine. The production of the main characters 'identity' and the myth of feminitiy is furthermore underlined by the Barbie-like doll who is shown to be his role model for desirable beauty, not for sexual identity.
'Ma vie en rose' thus trangresses strict gender binaries without creating new strata for stereotypes, as it depicts gender and gender expression as multi-facetted productions.
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Summary: "Ma Vie En Rose" - Excellent Movie
Review: "Ma Vie En Rose" (1997), directed by Alain Berliner, is the story of a seven year old boy Ludovic (Georges Du Fresne) who has to deal with his beliefs about truly being a girl, when anatomically speaking he is a boy, and the conflicts these beliefs bring about with the surrounding people in his life.
In the beginning of the film, we see that Ludovic's family has just moved into a new neighborhood, and it is conceivable that this neighborhood has a definite "norm" to it. This "norm" is first tested when Ludovic presents himself in girl's clothing and makeup to the gathering that is welcoming Ludovic's family to the area. From that point on, a transformation in everyone but Ludovic occurs.
This transformation is due to Ludovic's transgender beliefs. The term "transgender" can loosely be defined as "a person whose gender identity or expression does not conform to the cultural 'norm' for the gender into which they were born, or the sex which they were assigned at birth".
Ludovic's parents Hanna Fabre (Michèle Laroque) and Pierre Fabre (Jean-Philippe Écoffey) are faced with the daunting task of supporting their son against mass disapproval. Hanna and Pierre try to conform Ludovic by doing such things as taking him to see a psychologist, enrolling him on a soccer team, and cutting his hair short. The only person on Ludovic's side is his grandmother who tries to understand and support Ludovic despite what everyone else says.
Alain Berliner setup this story perfectly by using a young child, whose mind still has not been fully affected by "social norms", and the upper middle class neighborhood (which could represent the general consensus of what is right and wrong), and how the people in this neighborhood can oppose something so harshly that does not fall within its guidelines. One film that comes to mind is Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), where a neighborhood is changed so much by an atypical character.
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Summary: Adverse sexuality in society (Ma Vie en Rose)
Review: Ma Vie en Rose is a provocative film about a young boy that urns to be a girl and the struggle that he and his family go through in order for him to find himself. The young boy, Ludovic, feels so strong that he is a girl that he goes to extreme lengths to prove his sincerity. He wears dresses, make up, and watches a show that is equivalent to America's Barbie. He prefers to play with dolls than army men and dances over playing sports. Though Ludovic is anatomically male, everything he does is expressed as female. He even tries to kiss another boy. This action does not make him gay. Because he believes so sincerely that he is a girl, all of his actions seem normal to him. The neighbors have a different idea of what Ludovic is. They call him "bent" and ban him from their homes and families. At first, Ludovic's parents are accepting and allow his behavior, but as it intensifies, they begin to worry and send Ludovic to a psychologist, who can offer little help. Ludovic then goes to stay with his grandmother, the only person that accepts him for him. His parents are forced to move to another town after Ludovic's father loses his job, most likely because of Ludovic's behavior. After this move, his parents start to try and accept Luovic, but with little results and Ludovic starts to try and act more like a boy. Things seem to be going well, until a neighborhood girl has a costume party and forces Ludovic to switch costumes with her. Ludovic's mother flips out and tries to hurt him. When she is pulled off of him, she wanders the streets until she sees a 'Barbie' billboard. The billboard helps to show her what Ludovic is really like, a sweet, confusioned little boy looking for guidance, and she holds him for the first time since the problems began. These reactions to adversity, in terms of sexuality, are faced regularly by a wide range of people. The film tries to portray them to the extreme, and does it well, making this movie on the edge of new generation of film.
Rating: 
Summary: Ma Vie en Rose
Review: In the film Ma Vie en Rose, a young child is faced with some difficult concepts. Biologically the child was born with, as described by the character, an "X" and "Y" chromosomes making him male. However, the child, Ludo, feels God made a simple mistake and the other "X" chromosome he was supposed to get got lost. Ludo wants to be nothing more than what he was "supposed to be" a girl.
In a middle-class, suburban French family a little boy wearing a dress is unacceptable. Both parents are confused about Ludo's transgender. They do not understand how the child truly feels on the inside. A child at the age of seven thinking he is a girl is beyond their realm of conception. As much as Ludo's parents are confused, neighbors and so-called family friends are outright opposing Ludo. All these people are have their ideas of what do to fix Ludo or change him. These outside eyes are watching the families every move and making judgments against the youngest child. The family is further internalizing the watchful eyes and creating even more confusion in the already difficult situation.
Ludo thinks wearing dresses, high heels and makeup are what girls should do. Ludo idealizes the doll/television character Pam (a.k.a. Barbie). Pam is beautiful, wears dresses and has a handsome boyfriend. Pam is the ideal woman is society. Ludo wants nothing more than to be like her, as many other children do because manufacturers produce items commodifying women. This culture constantly sets women up to compare themselves and be competitive with one another. Ludo merely joins in.
Ma Vie en Rose invites the viewer to see the world from a young child's point of view. The film allows you to ask yourself if you could accept your own child for whatever they are. It also shows how detrimental society's ever-watchful eyes can be on someone who internalizes the constant scrutiny. It also plays on how women are commodified through Barbie. Children are brought up to think women are only happy when their closets are full and have a pair of shoes to match every outfit. This idea of what women should be based on a doll seriously confusing the character, as it does to most children.
This film is a wonderfully done. It is realistic it every way and truly gives insight into the world we live in, with all its faults.
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Summary: gender identity
Review: The film, Ma Vie en Rose, conveys the struggle of a little girl who was into the world genetically male. She struggles with societal norms and biases encountered while trying to come to terms with her identity. The audience witnesses one family's struggle in accepting their daughter as female, not as the little boy, Ludovic, whom they believed she was. The family has trouble accepting Ludovic as a little girl because of the pressure from society, more specifically their neighbors. As the neighbors become surveyors of Ludovic and his family, the family internalizes being surveyed and change their nature towards her on account of this; the basic premise of a theory by John Berger. The application of panopticism, a feeling that one is always being watched, by the neighbors creates a pressure on the family to reprimand Ludovic for her own acceptance of the guidelines set by society of what it means to be a little girl. To Ludovic, being a girl means wearing dresses, marrying boys, putting on make up, and a number of other stereotypical concepts of femininity. The film addresses the problem with the inflexible gender lines in modern day society, and society's reinforcement of stereotypes that have come to define femininity. Ludovic believes she is a girl, which she claims repetitively in the film. She believes that to show everyone else that she is a girl she must play the part and to do that she must accept the symbols of femininity set by society. It is society that classifies gender, and it is society in this film that tells Ludovic that she is not a girl but a boy. In the film, the community involved exemplifies the inflexible gender lines by ostracizing, harassing, forcing Ludovic to leave school, and even forcing the family out of the community. The film does an excellent job of demonstrating that gender is not something assigned at birth but rather a construct of society. It shows that children are taught to think that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. This is not a natural thought pattern, but an accepted one.
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Summary: A question of Identity
Review: Ma Vie en Rose is a movie dealing with a difficult subject, a child that firmly believes that they are not the gender they are labeled with. The boy in the film believes that he is a girl, however, society does not wish this to be the case. The film portrays how it is society that conditions and defines the sexes as well as maintains the status quo. It reinforces notions that people regulate themselves based on the knowledge that others could potentially be watching (and disapproving). It deals with issues of sexuality without being preachy or commanding. Although the message is a hotly contested issue, it portrays a message of tolerance rather than judgement. Although it has dark moments, the film is laden with comic relief that is both effective and poignant.
Ma Vie en Rose is an effective and provocative look into the world of a child who believes he is something that society judges he should not be. It is in virtually all respects a movie worth seeing and has the potential to change a person's outlook on the world. It is however, important to realize that it is not that a story about a boy who wants to be a girl, rather about a boy who believes that he is a girl. The first case is a desire for change, but the second is a statement of identity.
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Summary: A movie unlike one I have ever seen before.
Review: "Ma Via en Rose", translated as "My Life in Pink", is a French movie about an 8 year old boy who believes he is really born a girl (directed by Alain Berliner). In one of the opening scene a family is having a party with their closest friends and they are waiting for their son Ludovic to come downstairs to the party. When Ludo comes down he is wearing a dress, earrings, and makeup. This stuns the family and all of their guests. Interestingly enough there is another young boy names Jerome who looks at Ludo not as if he is weird, but in a way in which he likes what he is doing. This gives us a bit of foreshadowing that their may be something that happens between the two during the movies.
When Ludo comes down the family is not so much concerned with Ludo but more with what all the guests at the party might think. Even when Ludo is home they fear that people are always watching and judging him in a sense. This creates the idea of a Panopticon. Pan meaning "all" and opticon meaning "seeing." They fear that at all moments they are being judged in their actions and if they fail to go along with societal "norms" then they will not be accepted as being "normal."
All that young Ludo wants to do is go along with what he feels in his heart. People constantly tell him that he is a boy, but he doesn't believe it. In his heart he knows he's a girl no matter what his birth gender is considered to be. This is an example of Transgender. Transgender is the belief that someone is of the opposite sex then they were born as, such in Ludo's case. They have the ability to be, for example, both "masculine" but display "feminine" qualities. When I say masculine and feminine, I am talking about how society uses those terms. Ludo even begins to like the other young boy mentioned before, Jerome. The important thing to realize in this movie is that Ludo is not gay. Just because he is a "boy" and that he likes another "boy" doesn't mean that he is gay. He believes that he is a girl, by society's standards. This raises the question that if we believe we are something, are we what we believe, or are we what society believes we are? Many people feel if you were born a male by society's term, yet in your heart you believe you are female then you are what you believe, female. Who is society to tell us who and what we are. This movie greatly approaches this question.
In "Ma Via en Rose" the only person who believes that Ludo should act the way he feels is his grandmother. For a while Ludo goes to live with her. She does not see Ludo as a young boy who is "deranged" and "messed up" like the neighbors and at some points his family does. She sees him as her grandson, a young boy who is confident in what he feels. His grandmother even tries to convince Ludo's mother and father that he will probably grow out of it and there is nothing to worry about. Even if he doesn't grow out of it the important thing is to realize is that just because he doesn't act the way that society believes he should act doesn't mean there is anything wrong with him.
"Ma Via en Rose" is the most unique film I have ever seen. It makes you questions society. What does it matter what society thinks of you as long as you be who you believe you are? What makes society the supreme judge of character? This movie is great for anyone who wants to view societal standards in a different way. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: BreakThrough!
Review: Ma Vie En Rose is the delightful tale of a child- Ludo- and her gender troubles. Ludo was born into the body of a boy, and mistake that she blames on G-d but that she is waiting patiently for G-d to correct. Meanwhile she is getting thrown out of school because of her crush on another boy. Her family is splitting apart at the seams, and at one point she goes to live with her grandmother, when her mother can't take it anymore. After therapy, peer rejection, a suicide attempt, and her father losing his job, the family moves to another neighborhood, one that is more welcoming to Ludo's gender bending ways, and the viewer is lead to believe that everyone lives happily every after.
One of the major characters in this film is a doll. This doll is names Pam, and is fashioned after Barbie, except that Pam has her own TV show. In this TV show Pam flies about and marries Ben, and that's about all Pam does. However, for Ludo she stands as an important sign of what being feminine should be. Pam, much like Barbie's was marked to young girls, through both the dolls themselves and a lifestyle that goes along with the dolls. She is the perfect woman, and all women should aspire to her standards. No doubt there was a clothing line, and makeup line and many other objects marketed by Pam, just as there are entire brands dedicated to Barbie. This hyper-feminity that is packaged and marketed to girls and women was also marketed to Ludo in the movie. This may have been one of the biggest strengths of this film. Ludo portrays a young girl so well, with so much talent, that it may take a few minutes to realize that society does not categorize Ludo as a girl. This ability to be so highly feminine in a 'boy's body' shows us how constructed and marketed these behaviors really are. Through this and other disassociate effects (when the director takes something familiar and makes it unfamiliar so that we may look at it critically) we see very clearly that gender is performance, and to quote Ru Paul "everyone is born naked, after that everything is drag".
If you are looking for a movie on what a transgendered person's life is really like growing up, skip this. Although there are some experiences shared by many in the Trans community that are represented here, there are other movies out there. If you don't know what transgendered is- find out. Find out all the lingo you can about the Trans community before you go to this movie. Although it is argued that Ludo is not Trans, she may just be a boy going through a 'phase' you can decide, but you can only decide if you know the options. If you are ready to take a first step and challenge what you think of as gender, this is the movie to start with. It is not the end all and be all, but it is a fantastic beginning.
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Summary: Smart and Brave
Review: Ma Vie En Rose would probably not be made by a major American studio because of the subject that it deals with. In the somewhat more open film making environment in France, the film was able to be realized. It's the story of a 7 year old child named Ludovic (Ludo), born biologically male, but insistant that she is a girl. Ludo's persistance on this matter causes a great deal of uproar within the community that Ludo and her family live in, and within the family itself. Ludo shows a penchant for wearing dresses, watching a Barbie-like television show, and saying that she will one day marry a male friend from the neighborhood. The insecurities and prejudices of the people in the community nearly cost Ludo's father his job, and eventually causes the family to move away. Ludo's parents are portrayed in a complex light. On one hand, they are dealing with a lot of pressure from their surroundings to make Ludo "realize" that she is actually a boy, and are driven to actions that one might think they would not ordinarily take (at one point in the film Ludo's mother forcefully cuts Ludo's hair, and in another she hits her when she puts on a dress). However, at other moments the parents are shown as being relatively understanding and kind. Clearly this is a complex issue for a great deal of parent if they were to have to deal with, whether they have a personal opposition to trans people or not, simply due to the societal pressures. The one character in the film that is always portrayed in a positive light is Ludo's grandmother, who is immediately accepting of Ludo's choice. The film also shows the manner in which class intersects this issue. Much of the pressure that Ludo's parents are under comes from the fact that Ludo's father's boss is strongly insecure about Ludo's choice, and eventually fires Ludo's father for reasons relating to Ludo's situation.
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