Eddy Leroy, a trans man played by French actress Catherine Frot, in the movie Un homme heureux. He is standing outdoors at night, lit by a warm orange glow, looking at someone in the blurred foreground. He is light-skinned with short, dark hair, wearing a black jacket over a white collared shirt.

Un homme heureux (A Happy Man)

Film

2023

France

Eddy Leroy, a trans man played by French actress Catherine Frot, comes out to his bigoted husband after decades of marriage. Two trans male actors have minor roles.

Scene.

Available Summary:

"A conservative campaigns to be reelected mayor of a small town in northern France, Edith, his spouse of 40 years, tells him a secret he can no longer repress." -IMDb.

Jack's Summary:

Serge, a light-skinned trans man played by trans actor Kay Garnellen, in the film Un Homme Heureux. He has short, black hair and a black beard. He is wearing a collared white shirt. He is looking to the side with a neutral expression. On the wall behind him, the non-binary flag is hanging, and the trans flag is displayed in a printed rectangle. — *Serge, a trans man.*

Don’t get your hopes up; the trans man pictured above is a very minor character, whose touching and meaningful contribution is horribly overshadowed by the rest of the film. Serge, this minor character, is played by a trans actor named Kay Garnellen. He speaks very briefly with the protagonist about his experiences of fatherhood, pregnancy, and dysphoria, and has only one other (non-speaking) scene.

The protagonist, contrastingly, is a trans man named Eddy, played by actress Catherine Frot... and not, in my opinion, particularly well. What frustrated me most about this film was the squandering of a very worthwhile concept, and the failure to treat the story of an older trans man with respect.

Eddy supposedly transitions on testosterone throughout the film, but depictions of his facial hair are less convincing than the getups I've seen drag kings perfect with far less money than this movie had access to. This film is not a realistic depiction of what testosterone does to the body. Beyond that, much of the comedy in this film is derived from Eddy being mercilessly mocked (and, at one point, physically intimidated) by a transphobic, misogynistic, homophobic husband whose comeuppance doesn't begin to compensate for what an awful bully he is.

Two mature-aged, light-skinned men standing together in an alleyway, both wearing padded jackets over suits. The grey-haired man is speaking, with captions in the image saying, "Maybe she'll want to get a hotdog sewn between her thighs." — *Trans male bottom surgery is already degraded enough. We don't need jokes like this in movies.*

From the trailer, I got the feeling that this film would've been more appropriate about a decade ago and, what d'you know, I was right. There are some enjoyable moments, but not nearly enough to make this a recommended watch.

This film could have redeemed itself if Eddy had been shown bonding with, communicating with, and seeking the insights of trans men who are further along in their journeys; trans men who could have taught him more about testosterone, surgery, and male socialisation. But Eddy doesn't seek out other trans men with any enthusiasm, and so all the film has to offer trans men is his deeply flawed storyline plus the token contributions of two minor trans male characters.

Older trans men deserve better stories than this.

Entry last updated:

28 Feb 2026

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