XXY at TIFF

A 9:30 AM screening on a Sunday morning during the Toronto Film Festival is a risky proposition. Luckily, XXY has already received so much positive word in the wake of Cannes screenings that very few seats were free come show time. I doubt a movie theatre has ever smelled so strongly of coffee before.

XXY is your standard-issue South American hermaphrodite drama. . . What? Alex is a fifteen-year-old hermaphrodite who has been raised by her parents as a girl. Now approaching maturity, she begins to wrestle with the identity that has been chosen for her. The situation comes to a head during a visit from friends of the family: a reconstructive surgeon, his wife, and their teenage son, Alvaro.

Okay, perhaps the subject matter is a touch unusual, but in her feature debut, Agentinian director Lucia Puenzo treats the material with respect and creates a sensitive coming of age portrait, despite the decidedly risky material.

In the role of Alex, Inés Efron is terrific in portraying someone who has grown both charming and manipulative in her adolescence. With each passing year the need to be wary of those she keeps in her company is increasingly evident as she tries to understand her own sexuality. She is strikingly beautiful and strikingly androgynous; not necessarily a good combination when trying to preserve some degree of anonymity or personal safety while surrounded by other curious youth and their boundless capacity for cruelty.

Martín Piroyansky is noteworthy as the young co-lead Alvaro, as well. He is a relentlessly nerdy boy who is as drawn to Alex’s magnetism as he is confused by her every move and glance. Alex makes her desire of Alvaro clear, but he is sensitive enough to notice there is something “wrong” with her strange pursuit. Both Alvaro and Alex are young, curious, and passionate. They crave the adventure of a summer romance, but young summer romance is awkward enough without the additional weight of questioning gender roles.

Alex’s parents are well (and sparingly) portrayed as two people grappling with whether they have made the right choices in raising her. They are intelligent and caring people, but how do you tell your child that there is nothing wrong with the person she is while imploring her to keep her identity a secret in the same breath?

I am thankful that XXY does not attempt to simplify such complicated issues for the sake of a tidier story; a nice surprise considering the great risk of such a sensational sounding plot veering into telenovella melodrama territory. The film asks a number of intriguing questions, but never attempts to hand out easy answers before the credits.

An additional note must be made of the beautiful photography. Shot on the Argentinian coast, the haunts of Alex and Alvaro look like a paradise that begs to be the setting of their unusual affair.

Aaron.
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Posted on 09/10/07 by: Aaron 06:47 PM