Ma vie en rose

The French have been known to make several great movies, in my opinion and this it one of their bests. Georges Du Fresne's stunning performance makes you smile, as well as makes you think. The idea of getting to know yourself has been around for a long time and his character had a long way to go to getting to know himself.

The most obvious way to read MA VIE EN ROSE is as the tale of difficulties faces by a very young boy who is very likely transgenderd--but given the multi-layered nature of the film this is actually a rather narrow point of view. It would be more accurate to describe the film as a rather sly assault on a cookie-cutter society that reacts with a herd mentality toward anything in the least unusual. And Ludovic Fabre is a most unusual child: barely into school, he has become convinced that he is a girl, and in his childhood innocence he sees absolutely nothing socially amiss with the idea.

The film begins with a party at which neighbors gather to welcome the newly arrived Fabre family--only to be, along with the family, extremely disconcerted when Ludovic makes an entrance in meticulously applied make-up and a pink dress. His family passes the incident off as a joke, but Ludovic proves remarkably single-minded, and when he draws a neighborhood child into his fantasies he also incurs neighborhood hysteria. The result is at once comic and unpleasantly vicious as his classmates, his neighbors, and eventually his family gradually turn upon him.

Although there are one or two problems with character development in the script, the cast--particularly Georges du Fresne as Ludovic and Helene Vincent as free-spirit grandmother Elizabeth--is superlative, and director Alain Berliner balances the serio-comic story with a very light touch. Viewers will laugh a little, cry a little, and ultimately come away from the film feeling an uncertain hope. The fact that this film is rated "R" is merely so much more evidence of the power of the herd to dictate standards of normalcy--one or two profanities aside, there is absolutely nothing in the film to offend any intelligent viewer, and the film will hold a special appeal for older children who have been targeted as in any way different by their peers... and for the many adults who remember what it was like to be a victim of a society that prizes conformity over imagination, creativity, honesty, integrity, and self-awareness. Strongly recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Being a movie fanatic and reviewer, I was invited to the "Semaine du Cinema Francophone" in Beirut (francophone cinema week). The movie taught me the word "tolerance" as I was one of these stupid guys who mocked on effeminate people. (Maybe to reject my desire at this age to be free to disguise myself, like Ludovic did in the movie). What I know is that being in a place that was supposed to gather cultivated people, journalists and movie reviewers, cinema lovers, artists, etc. I was chocked to hear people laughing at some scenes that were supposed to be moving, sensitive and very important humanely. Also the sound going out public mouth: "tsss tsss tsss" was so chocking that I felt more the pressure of "non-tolerant' society inside the movie theater itself, more than the pressure Ludovic had to endure in his story. My personality was projected into Ludovic who suffered his moments in the film, while I was personally suffering inside the theater and trying to vibe with the movie, despite chocked snobbish people's reaction. An excellent movie. Rather a drama than a comedy!

"My Life in Pink" is an entertaining, often thought provoking film on the nature of being true to one's self, and of parental and public reaction when the truth expressed is controversial. Interest is maintained throughout through a well crafted production, in which all elements unite and work smoothly. The various points of view of the situation are nicely dramatized, and honestly presented.

I am astonished about some reactions

I am amazed to read things like this, "To me, this was not a film about a "disturbed" child, but about parents. The parents made, apparently, no effort to explain the biological difference between boys and girls. Second, nobody enlightened the child on the difference between your secret, internal sensitivities and those that one displays publicly.", have you really not understood this movie or was it me?

Of course this movie is not about a disturbed child! Maybe this movie is about the fact that all people, from the moment they are born, are conditioned to be like this and like that, and especially not to be themselves. Boys have to play with cars and guns, and girls with barby puppets, and most definitely not the other way around, otherwise you should take your kid to a therapist. Boys have to wear trousers and girls skirts or frogs, just check school uniforms, there are still quite some schools where girls may not wear trousers except for the really cold winter months. A child can not explore the world in a natural way, whenever it yells to test the capacity of its lungs, and any adult might dislike that, it is silenced, with other words whenever they are themselves, they are silenced. We are all conditioned like rats in a skinner box and we are no more and no less than rats in a skinner box until we can say f**k you to that society, those politicians, law enforcers, teachers, parents, employers, media, so called friends that don't accept us like we are, etc that gratefully fulfill the role of skinner. Maybe the biological difference between the two sexes is much less clear than most of us think and are people in the first place humans rather than men and women, and maybe hormonal and genetical, there are many stages between "absolute woman" and "absolute man".

I also don't think that the film wants to implement that the boy could have these feelings as a secret, but nobody else may know that. With other words you are saying the same like all the other skinners, whatever you think, try not to give in to it, and keep acting like a robot, wearing your mask because your real self is disgusting and abnormal, and something to be ashamed of. For myself, i am a guy, but i like to wear long skirts, noting to do with gender (there is fundamentally nothing female about a skirt) because the are comfortable and give your legs much more freedom than trousers, but i never wear them when I'm at my hometown, because i just don't feel like being stared at by the local baker, neighbors, etc. I just can't cope with being the weirdo again, and i am like everybody else in this society threatened with being laughed at, being discredited,... if i am myself.

I also read:"Great! Great! Great! I've told everyone I know to see this one! Really a fun, entertaining, charming, sweet film. It will take you emotionally all over the place. But believe me, it is really a great emotional ride. I love to see films like this that show all aspects of life! Enjoy this one with several friends!"

I think this film was everything except charming, entertaining, sweet, fun... I think this film tries to confront people with the DISGUSTING society to which they all contribute, it is a good movie, but it has nothing to do with sweetness and charm and the like. Now sorry for the enraged start that i took, of course everyone understands a movie in their way, and i don't want to sound patronizing, but i was shocked by some reactions.