Tomboy

The actors in this film are amazing. Its incredible because in an interview Celine Sciamma said that the lead character Mikael/ Laure, played by Zoe Heran, was found by chance and not through typical casting agencies which proved to be absolutely perfect for the role. I like the lack of music throughout the whole film. It leaves it up to you to assess the situation in each scene, the emotions felt by the characters and the intensity of those emotions. I suppose this is a very prevalent feature in the majority of French films which I absolutely love. The film revolves around the experiences and encounters of adolescents, which has sort of a stripped back element of innocence that makes it impossible not to become invested. The storyline follows the lead character's discovery of self identity, the conflicts of the film is driven by complications of "how people and things should be" that we can see are already planted in most of the other children's idea of things. One watches this film and finds that, there is no fault in any of the characters. 9 out of 10 because this film questions so much revolving perception related to identity, and at the same time challenges the limits of love.

Laure, the tomboy of the title, moves because of Dad's job to a new neighbourhood and has to negotiate the minefield of finding new friends. With her short-cropped hair and boyish looks, it is easy for Laure to pass herself off as a boy. So she does. Existing as Mikael, she digs a hole deeper and deeper for herself during summer holidays. With the start of school approaching, friendships made and romances embarked upon, something has to give.

The film works in large part due to the casting. Zoé Héran as Laure / Mikael is so convincing as a boy that when she does finally don a dress it just looks... wrong. A double for a young Sting, she has an easy charisma and strong expression that makes her every move unmissable. Mikael is befriended by Lisa, a precocious Jeanne Disson, and young love blossoms in bizarre circumstances. As strong as these two performances are, Malonn Lévana Malonn as Laure's little sister Jeanne steals every scene she is in. Given a secret to keep half-way through, she crackles and delights every time you see her and wonder if she can keep the confidence.

As delightful as the children are, the theme of a young girl yearning to be a boy is presented but hardly explored. The film is episodic, one summer in the life of a mixed up girl. Laure's reasons for taking things so far are never dealt with beyond surface levels, and no resonance to wider concerns in society are present. The narrative strains with such insubstantial fare, but never breaks. Fans of such coming-of-age tales as Stand By Me or Yamada's Village of Dreams will enjoy this tale.

"Tomboy" is a French coming-of-age drama featuring Zoe Heran as Laure, who has just moved to a new neighborhood and is looking for new friends. She sees the camaraderie among the boys and as a result decides to pretend to be a boy and tells everyone that she is Michael.

Michael becomes close to Jeanne(Malonn Levana), plays soccer, has water fights and swims with the other kids in what could be a typical summertime anywhere.

The child-actors, particularly Zoe Heran are very believable. Laure/Michael is on screen most of the time and is an actress to watch for in the future.

Zoe(Michael/Laure) is contrasted with a very feminine little sister illustrating how different even close siblings can be. Most directors don't edit enough, but this feature felt a bit short at 79 minutes. It is worth your time for Ms. Horan's performance.

After seen this film I found some interesant comments of Céline Sciamma about her film.Céline Sciamma insists very much about the perception (le regard in French) that people may have about a person: Lisa thinks that Laure is a boy and all the "confusion" begins when Lisa asks Laure about her name and Laure answers "Mickael" !! From then the other children consider Laure as as boy. In this age some young girls like to play soccer,wear masculine clothes and people call them tomboys o garçon manqué in French: in most of these cases the experience is quite temporary.The performance of Zoé Héran as Laure/Mickael is remarkable.Also the other actors and actresses are very good.A very interesting story and therefore a very good film.

Great movie about personal feelings going against socialnormative forms, leading role by Zoé Héran is the most lovable (and relatable) character you could imagine, overal the movie is well acted and directed (a bit artsy for my taste) WARNING: artistic nudity and the best part is that it is not very recent movie as any movie with any focus on transgender in the past 5 or so years is pure biased garbage 8/10 TL;DR: Love tomboys