Tomboy (film)
2011 French film directed by Céline Sciamma (Water Lilies).
Ten years old Laure is used to moving around. She's moving once again, but this time her parents plan on staying in a suburb for a while.
She meets Lisa, a girl her age, who mistakes her for a boy. Laure introduces herself to Lisa and the local children as "Mickaël ". She keeps this secret from her parents, and it is summer so she hasn't ran into any problems with school yet. She also develops a mutual crush on Lisa.
Tropes used in Tomboy (film) include:
- Ambiguous Gender: The film is rather ambiguous about whether Laure is gender-queer, transgender, or just a tomboy.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Jeanne, though a mild example.
- Attractive Bent Gender
- Bathtub Bonding
- Bifauxnen: Laure.
- Big Brother Instinct: Laure has one toward her little sister, who says she used to beat up anyone who teased her and that their old neighborhood was scared of her. She could have been exaggerating, but Laure gets into a fight with a boy who pushed her sister
- Bittersweet Ending: Laure is forced to be seen as a girl again, the kids humiliate her, and Lisa seems to have broken off her romance with her.. But it seems Laure and Lisa are still friends.
- Book Ends: Near the beginning Laure introduces herself as "Mickael" and at the end she introduces herself again as Laure.
- Dropped a Bridget On Him: Happens to everyone by the end of the film
- First Kiss: Lisa drags "Mickael" to a secluded area, and kisses him.
- Kids Are Cruel: The boys force Laure to take off her short pants towards the end.
- One of the Boys
- Outdoorsy Gal: Laure.
- Recursive Crossdressing: When Lisa and "Mickael" play with some girly makeup after the dance.
- Spiritual Successor: To Ma Vie en Rose.
- Stock Scream: None other than the Wilhelm Scream.
- Sweet on Polly Oliver: Lisa and Laure develop a romance.
- Truth in Television: Many of the behaviors in the movie are rather accurate, right down to kids trying to "find out" a person's sex by taking off their pants.
- Tomboy: Exactly What It Says on the Tin, and taken Up to Eleven (not only does she behave like a boy, she passes as a boy).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Laure and Jeanne, Laure and Lisa.