XXY (2007)
Director: Lucía Puenzo
Movie review
From Time Out New York
With the notable exception of Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex (which nods to Tiresias, the ancient Greek seer who was both male and female), very little fiction exists about intersex individuals—those born with the chromosomes and/or genitalia of both genders. Lucía Puenzo’s first film, a coming-of-age tale about Alex (Efron), an intersex 15-year-old referred to usually by female pronouns, is a noble addition to the genre, but becomes too hermetically sealed by its own social-outreach mission.
Puenzo, adapting the short story “Cinismo” by Sergio Bizzio, sets up overdetermined scenes: Alex’s father (Darín), a biologist, declares the sex of a sea creature at the film’s beginning, unnecessarily reminding us of science’s preference for simple binaries. Underscoring the either/or of medical discourse even further, a plastic-surgeon friend of Alex’s mother who’s been summoned to their home for a consultation is a bullying jerk. The plot itself, which spans just a few days, moves from one crisis to the next: Alex has exhilarating yet traumatic sex with Alvaro (Piroyansky), the doctor’s son, and is assaulted by three boys. Of course, nearly everyone’s adolescence, especially one as complicated as Alex’s, feels calamitous. And though Alex impresses with her determination to blur the male-female distinction, perhaps the most memorable image of her is peering up through the floorboards as the visitors arrive, both menacing and cowering.
Author: Melissa Anderson
Time Out New York Issue 657: May 1 - 7, 2008
User reviews of this film
-
- Steve Cruz said...
- Posted on Jun 14 2008 20:34 This film is incredibly touching and emotionally accurate. Beyond the usual confusion and turmoil of adolescence, Alex and Alvaro have gender identity issues and hetero/homosexual struggles. My favorite line is when Alex's mother is trying to find out if her daughter has made a decision to be male or female and Alex replies, "Maybe there is no decision to be made."
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Lucía Puenzo
Cast: Inés Efron, Martín Piroyansky, Ricardo Darín, Valeria Bertuccelli, Martín Piroyanski, Germán Palacios, Carolina Peleritti full cast
Rated: NR
Duration: 86 mins
US Release: May 2 2008
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now