Gender Identity In Tomboy

Tomboy (2011) directed by Céline Sciamma. It’s the story, as the title the film suggest of a 10 year old girl who identifies as a boy for most of the film. While we typically think of a tomboy as a girl who is boyish, most don’t associate it with this particular situation, where the main character Laure, who calls herself Michaël identifies as a boy. In this way Tomboy is a thought provoking film in it’s subtlety. Unlike most films that parade around the issue of gender identity, turning the characters and the people they represent into caricatures, Tomboy presents an everyday situation. For the character of Michaël (Laure) it’s not unusual that this exploration would take place. He (She) is on the cusp of puberty and is at an age where one would start to think about themselves and their place in the world, where their thoughts about themselves would deviate from the preconceived notions of what others may have thought. As with most preteens and teens Michaël (Laure) can create and experiment with their identity and the family move offers the perfect scenario for this as it’s easy to try out a new identity when no one knows you.

There isn’t excessive dialogue and it’s one of those films where if you turned off the sound you’d still have a solid idea of what’s taking place in the story. The character of her younger sister, Jeanne contrast Laure/Michaëlbecause she’s very girly, she even dances around in a tutu. The approach of the story also shows the precarious dance of having two lives as the audience witnesses Laure keep the secret of Michaëlfrom her family and the secret of Laure from Mikeal’s friends. The way that she tells her sister to not cut her hair too short or mom will notice. The way she practices acting like a boy in the mirror. The way Laure fashions male parts out of playdough so that Michaël may appear like the other boys in his