''Ma vie en rose'' (English translation: ''My Life in Pink'') is a 1997 Franco-Belgian
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Alain Berliner
Alain Berliner (born 21 February 1963) is a Belgian film director best known for the 1997 film ''Ma vie en rose'', which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Golden Globe Awards in 1998.
Born in Brussels, he also ...
. It tells the story of Ludovic, a
transgender girl
Transgender youth are children or adolescents who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. Because transgender youth are usually dependent on their parents for care, shelter, financial support, and other needs, transgender yo ...
, and depicts her family and community struggling to accept her
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
.
The film received largely positive reviews and was selected as the Belgian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
70th Academy Awards
The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 23, 1998, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the show ...
, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Plot
Pierre and Hanna Fabre move into their dream house with wonderful neighbors and an idyllic community. Their youngest child, Ludovic, identifies as a girl and wants to live as one, despite being assigned male.
One day, Ludovic befriends Jérôme, the son of Pierre's boss whose family lives across from the Fabres, and expresses a desire to marry him. When visiting Jérôme's house, Ludovic enters Jérôme's sister's bedroom and puts on one of her dresses, unaware that his parents were preserving the room after her death. Jérôme's mother finds Ludovic, and she and the rest of the neighbors are horrified.
The community turns against Ludovic and, by extension, the rest of the Fabre family. After Ludovic stands in as
Snow White
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...
in a school play, the rest of the parents collectively sign a petition to have Ludovic expelled. Pierre, under strain as an employee of Jérôme's father, is unable to cope and causes conflict within the family. Ludovic is assaulted by the boys on the soccer team in the locker room after a match. Her brother Jean tries to stop it, but is held back.
Following a particularly bad argument, Ludovic attempts
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by hiding in a freezer, but is found in time and allowed to wear a skirt to a neighborhood party. While the other neighbors greet Ludo warmly, Pierre is fired the next day and finds his house graffitied. Ludovic flees, distraught. Hanna blames Ludovic for all that has gone wrong. In order to set her child straight, she cuts Ludovic's hair short. Resentful of her mother, Ludovic goes to live with grandmother Élisabeth. When Ludovic and Élisabeth visit Pierre and Hanna one weekend, Pierre announces that he has a new job, but it is out of town and they have to move.
At their new house, Ludovic is befriended by Chris (born Christine) Delvigne, a masculine child. Chris' mother invites Ludovic to Chris' dress-up birthday party, which Ludo attends in a musketeer outfit. Chris, unhappy in a princess outfit, asks Ludo to swap and has the other young party guests force Ludo to do so upon refusal. When Ludovic's mother sees them, she fears that their troubles are beginning again and lashes out by hitting Ludo until the other party guests restrain her.
Hanna follows Ludovic to a billboard where she is shocked to see Ludo in the picture, running away with Pam, the
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration.
...
-like protagonist. When she tries to follow her, she falls through the ground and awakens at home. She and Pierre assure Ludo that they will no longer try to control her gender expression. In turn, Ludo assures her mother that she never really intended to run away with Pam. Hanna, happy to see her, accepts Ludo's identity and says Ludo will always be her child.
Cast
Production
Although internationally presented as a
Belgian film because of the nationality of Berliner, its director and co-screenwriter, the film is an
international co-production
A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...
between companies in Belgium, the United Kingdom and France – the majority of the production work was done by the French
independent film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...
house Haut et Court and the shooting took place south of Paris, France, near the commune of
Évry.
The
color timing
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...
in the film is significant: it changes as parents exit from the school play, switching to cold blue tones.
Release
In the United States, the film received an
R rating by the
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
, an unusual decision due to the film's minimal sexual content, minimal violence and mild language. Opposition believes that the rating was the result of
transphobia
Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...
.
Reception
''Ma vie en rose'' received critical acclaim. On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it has a 92% approval score based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The consensus states: "''Ma Vie en Rose'' follows a boy's exploration of his gender identity with warmth and empathy - for its young protagonist as well as the family affected by his journey."
Accolades
The film won the
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
for
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
. It also won the
Crystal Globe award at the
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodnà filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...
.
See also
References
External links
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*
Sony Pictures Section on the filmWhy is Ma Vie en Rose rated R?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma Vie En Rose
1997 films
1997 comedy-drama films
1997 LGBT-related films
Belgian comedy-drama films
Belgian LGBT-related films
French comedy-drama films
French LGBT-related films
British comedy-drama films
British LGBT-related films
LGBT-related coming-of-age films
Crystal Globe winners
Films about dysfunctional families
Belgian independent films
Films about trans women
Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Film winners
French independent films
British independent films
Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners
LGBT-related comedy-drama films
1997 independent films
1990s French-language films
French-language Belgian films
Films directed by Alain Berliner
1990s British films
1990s French films