''3 Generations'' (also released in some markets as ''About Ray'') is a 2015 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Gaby Dellal Gaby Dellal (born 1961) is a British actress, film director and writer. She was born in London. Career In 2015, Dellal directed '' 3 Generations'', a movie about a transgender teen boy played by Elle Fanning whose decision to start hormone t ...

and written by

Nikole Beckwith Nikole Beckwith is an American director, screenwriter, and playwright. She has also performed live with a handful of bands and sings on Tiger Saw's 2005 record ''Sing!'' and Sam Rosen's 2006 release "The Look South". Early life Beckwith grew-up ...

and Dellal. The film stars

Elle Fanning Mary Elle Fanning (born April 9, 1998) is an American actress. She made her film debut as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning's character in the drama film '' I Am Sam'' (2001). As a child actress, she appeared in several films, i ...

Naomi Watts Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...

Tate Donovan Tate Buckley Donovan (born September 25, 1963) is an American actor, comedian and television director. He is known for portraying Tom Shayes in ''Damages'', Jimmy Cooper in '' The O.C.'', and the voice of the title character in the 1997 Disney ...

and

Sam Trammell Sam Trammell (born January 29, 1969) is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO fantasy drama series ''True Blood''. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Mi ...

. It premiered in the Special Presentations section of the

2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's '' Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Na ...

, under the title ''About Ray''. The film was released on May 5, 2017, by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...

. Teenager Ray (Fanning) realizes and pursues his true identity as male and his mother Maggie (Watts), lesbian grandmother Dolly (Sarandon) and absent father Craig (Donovan) must learn to accept him for who he is.

Plot

Sixteen-year-old Ray, his mother Maggie, grandmother Dolly, and Dolly's partner are at the doctor getting final instructions on Ray's gender transition. Ray lives with his unmarried mother, his domineering lesbian grandmother, Dolly, and Dolly's partner, Frances. Dolly thinks it would be easier if Ray would just be a lesbian, while Maggie understands that Ray is a

transgender man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that incl ...

. Ray is ready to start testosterone shots and change schools, but he needs written consent from both parents. Ray's father is an absent parent and Maggie is afraid to make such a permanent decision. Maggie locates Ray's father, but he wants some time to think. Blaming father Craig's indecision gives Maggie time to stall. On his own, Ray locates his father to find him, married with three children. He also learns that Maggie slept with Craig's brother and that "uncle" Matthew might be his real father. Maggie is the reason he never had a father. Ray feels lied to, alone, and as though he will be trapped in a female body forever. Grandma Dolly decides it is time for the four to have a man in the house. She now supports Ray's transition to a man. Matthew and Maggie talk. Craig signs the consent form after Maggie also does so. Ray finds happiness.

Cast

as Ray, Maggie and Craig's son, Dodo's grandson and Matthew's nephew *

as Maggie, Ray's mother, Craig's wife And Dodo's daughter *

as Dolly (Dodo), Maggie's mother and Ray's grandmother *

as Craig Walker, Maggie's ex-boyfriend and Matthew's brother *

Linda Emond Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake ...

as Frances (Honey), Dolly's partner *

Jordan Carlos Jordan Carlos (born February 2, 1978) is an American stand-up comedian who played a recurring character on ''The Colbert Report'' and is a co-host on the Nickelodeon kids' show '' Me TV''. He also appeared as a panelist and reporter on '' The Nigh ...

as Jake *

as Matthew Walker, Craig's brother and Ray's uncle *

Maria Dizzia Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''. Early lif ...

as Sinda *

Tessa Albertson Tessa Albertson is an American actress. She plays Caitlin Miller on the television series '' Younger''. Early life Albertson was born in New York City. After high school graduation, she took time off for her acting career before attending Pri ...

as Spoon

Production

Beckwith and Dellal began working on the screenplay in the fall of 2012, with Beckwith finishing the first draft in the spring of 2013. On October 30, 2014,

and

were announced to have joined the film. On November 18, 2014,

joined the cast. On November 25, 2014,

joined the cast. Filming took place in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

, New York, over the course of 25 days in November and December 2014. In August 2015,

Michael Brook Michael Brook (born 1951) is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the worl ...

was announced as the composer for the film. In April 2016, Dellal posted pictures on Instagram indicating that she was re-editing the film. The score by Brook was replaced by West Dylan Thordson.

Release

On May 15, 2015,

acquired distribution rights to the film, then titled ''Three Generations'', in a $6 million deal. In June 2015, the film was announced to be released on September 18, 2015, under the title ''About Ray''. It premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 12, 2015, to lukewarm reviews. Subsequently, the film was pulled from the schedule days before its intended release date. In March 2017, it was announced that the film was scheduled to be released on May 5, 2017, under the title ''3 Generations''.

Reception

Critical response

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 ...

, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 46 reviews, and an average rating of 5/10 (as of February 2023). The site's critical consensus reads, "''3 Generations'' squanders a worthy premise on a thinly written story that focuses on dramatic signposts at the expense of genuine character development." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 47 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Andrew Barker of

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

wrote: "Dellal's likably chaotic direction and a bevy of solid performances make sure the film's beating heart outweighs most of its contrivances." RogerEbert.com gave it a 2 star rating and said that the film takes on the topic of gender dysphoria with a talented cast but falls short in its execution, resulting in a frustrating and unenlightening journey that sacrifices truth for tastefulness. The movie had the potential to be more entertaining and informative.

Controversy

The film has been the subject of controversy regarding its casting of Fanning, a

cisgender Cisgender (often shortened to cis; sometimes cissexual) is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word ''cisgender'' is the antonym of '' transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is L ...

female actor, as a trans male character, Ray. In an interview with Refinery29 in 2015, Dellal stated that Ray is a character who has not yet transitioned during the story, saying, "The part is a girl and she is a girl who is presenting in a very ineffectual way as a boy." Dellal's statement led to criticism from the trans community, accusing her of

misgendering 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 ...

. In 2017, Dellal denied misgendering and stated that the comment was "misunderstood", saying, "When I did that Refinery29 interview, it was because I was talking about Elle Fanning as an actress, and I kept referring to her as she."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:3 Generations 2015 films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2015 LGBT-related films LGBT-related coming-of-age films American coming-of-age drama films American LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Casting controversies in film Big Beach (company) films 2010s English-language films Films directed by Gaby Dellal Films scored by West Dylan Thordson Films shot in New York City Films about trans men 2015 drama films 2010s American films