Ma vie en rose (My Life in Pink)

Available Summary:

"Ma vie en rose (English: My Life in Pink) is a 1997 Franco-Belgian drama film directed by Alain Berliner. It tells the story of Ludovic, a transgender girl, and depicts her family and community struggling to accept her gender identity." -Wikipedia.

Jack's Summary:

This film is primarily about a young trans girl named Ludovic, who suffers humiliation and discrimination from both family and peers, not allowed to femininely express herself around anybody except her grandmother. Another child appears towards the end of the film, who I interpret as a trans boy, but could otherwise be a young butch, a tomboy, etc.

As Ludovic sits alone, she is approached by this masculine child, who introduces himself as Chris. Chris is aggressive and boisterous, the opposite of Ludovic in every way, and insists that Ludovic play with him. Before that can happen, though, Chris is called back home. When his mother yells "Christine”, it is the first indication we get that Chris is not a cis boy. Chris looks heartbroken and uncomfortable.

Later, Chris is forced to wear a dress to his birthday party, and mopes around miserably until Ludovic arrives wearing a pirate costume. Chris demands that Ludovic swap costumes with him and put on the dress. Ludovic, though excited and eager to wear a dress, says no because her parents have threatened and shamed her away from feminine behaviours. Chris forces her to swap costumes with him anyway. When Ludovic’s mother sees that Ludovic has put on a dress, she becomes violent towards her. This shocks everyone at the party, including Chris, who becomes very distressed and tells Ludovic’s mother that Ludovic only swapped costumes because she’d been forced into it.

This is pretty much the extent of Chris’s presence in the film, but his appearance was a pleasant surprise when I watched My Life in Pink originally, as I wasn’t expecting any gender-diverse characters beyond Ludovic.

Ultimately, this isn’t a very nice film, and is probably not worth watching unless you have a very high tolerance for transphobia, homophobia, and children being mistreated. The trailer for the film doesn’t at all communicate the amount of abuse that Ludovic endures. At one stage in the film, she even attempts suicide by hiding in a freezer.