Tomboy (2011)

Céline Sciamma’s movie is a small and gorgeous gift. The film is outwardly simple but contains complicated multitudes. A family with two kids - and one on the way - moves to a new small town in France. The elder daughter who is eleven is extremely tomboyish. When she introduces herself to the local kids she blurts out that her name is Mikaël. Thus begins a summer of joy, challenge and emotional confusion. The tomboy revels in her newfound freedom, but how is she to keep this new persona going as the first day in a new school gallops closer and closer? The performance by Zoé Héran is astounding. It is so totally lived in one forgets it is acting. And my favourite moment in the entire film is the last one. A relationship Mikaël thinks has been shattered irreparably changes to something more truthful; Héran let’s the tiniest of smiles pass over her and within an instant the entire tone of the film changes.

If you found yourself falling in love with Sciamma’s PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, do watch this one too.