the movieGOOMBA

4 GOOMBAS

Purity and innocence are historically characteristic of a child. Like I said in one of my previous posts, a child's mind is not yet tainted by outside influence or experiences. Their actions come from a deeper, more innate place. A place that most adults have forgotten about, and what Ma Vie En Rose does is remind the world that children's thoughts and feelings are not trivial but valuable.

Ludovic is a seven-year-old boy who believes with his whole heart that he will grow up to be a girl. His parents, Hanna and Pierre, are the stereotypical suburban couple. Pierre is masculine in every way. He is the breadwinner. He plays sports. He gets angry and relieves his anger by going into the yard and doing pull ups on the arbor. Hanna is docile. She isn't a push over, but she's calm and understanding. She likes throwing neighborhood parties, and hanging out with the other neighborhood moms. She's an excellent homemaker, and always wears dresses or skirts . . . at least during the first half of the film. So of course, when Ludovic begins to act outside of the perfect picture that is their family (i.e. dressing up as a little girl, playing the bride in a child's imaginary game, peeing sitting down), they flip.

But Ludovic's intentions and rational are completely and utterly innocent. It has nothing to do with sexuality. He just believes that God lost "one of his x's and gave him a y instead." As the community and his family hone in on the 'irregularity' of his behavior, the tension brings about a number of changes. Gender roles begin to cross. Lodovic's father becomes more calm. He even cries at one point. He begins helping around the house, cooking and cleaning. But most importantly, he becomes more understanding of Ludovic. Ludovic's mother on the other hand slowly stops wearing dresses and skirts. She begins to openly smoke, a common femme fatale depiction. She gets angry and blames Ludovic for the family's societal shun.

One can argue that Ludovic is gender personified. He proves that gender roles cross boundaries all the time. The only difference is that Ludovic embraces the opposite of his born sex.

There are some screwy scenes with TV characters call Pam and Ben, but that's French Surrealism for you. ;) I liked this movie a lot, and what makes it is Ludovic, his innocence, and the assumption that the audience has an open mind.