Ten-year-old Laura has the look and the tastes of a boy. Now that she has moved to another place where she is a total stranger it comes naturally to her to introduce herself as a boy. Bye Bye Laura, Hello Michael, a new boy on the block. This is how she (he?) introduces her(him?)self to her (his?) new friend Lisa and her gang. At first, life is sweet: it is summertime ; the weather is fine ; nobody suspects anything... The girl-boy has the time her (his?) life playing soccer, spitting on the ground and enjoying other testosterone-induced pleasures. But things are not that simple. They never are. There are indeed a few mundane "technical" problems which are bound to come into play such as: - how to do number one without being noticed? ; how to transform a girl's one piece swimsuit into a boy's bathing costume complete with its pertaining bulge?, and so on, and so on... A variety of crude details that could easily be smutty in less tactful hands than Céline Sciamma's. But be reassured, if Sciamma (this is her second film after "La naissance des pieuvres") shows no complex when it comes to explore the gray areas of her subject, she never indulges in any dirty-mindedness. Céline Sciamma is indeed a serious artist with no taste for the easy way out, a creator who believes in her subject and respects all of her characters (Laura/Michael's friends, her little sister Jeanne, her computer specialist father, her pregnant mother,...) and although the direction is in no way showy, the film gets more and more captivating as the story unfurls (what happens to Laura, first the architect then the victim of the fraud) and as the trap closes on her. To these narrative skills you may add an interesting theme, rarely tackled on the big screen. You can indeed count on the fingers of one hand the films exploring the mood of a young girl tempted to take the plunge from tomboy to boy to the core, and more generally speaking analyzing the behavior of children who are still too young to know for sure which sex they belong to and accordingly try all the options. "Tomboy" goes deep into the uneasy question of children's libido, which she had already done in "La naissance des pieuvres", although the latter film dealt with girls older than Laura. Devoid of any irrelevant sophistication, brief and concise but cutting through to the bone, "Tomboy" manages to keep the audience in turns interested, puzzled and upset by a story which ends on the verge of tragedy. The young actors are wonderfully natural, but Zoé Héran as the "tomboy" is beyond all praise. No one else could have been more convincing than this exceptional young actress. You can't imagine a more suitable physical appearance, way of speaking and attitude for the role than Zoé Héran's. Just amazing! Her young partners, Malonn Navanna and Jeanne Disson, very natural in their respective roles of Jeanne (Laure's

feminine six-year-old sister) and of Lisa ("Michael"'s new friend attracted to "him") provide two fine performances as well.

"Tomboy", an outstanding second film, is recommended to all those who favor ambiguity, forays into little explored territories and strong feelings emanating from what looks, at first sight, as a mere slice of life.

Laure, the tomboy of the title, moves because of Dad's job to a new neighbourhood and has to negotiate the minefield of finding new friends. With her short-cropped hair and boyish looks, it is easy for Laure to pass herself off as a boy. So she does. Existing as Mikael, she digs a hole deeper and deeper for herself during summer holidays. With the start of school approaching, friendships made and romances embarked upon, something has to give.

The film works in large part due to the casting. Zoé Héran as Laure / Mikael is so convincing as a boy that when she does finally don a dress it just looks... wrong. A double for a young Sting, she has an easy charisma and strong expression that makes her every move unmissable. Mikael is befriended by Lisa, a precocious Jeanne Disson, and young love blossoms in bizarre circumstances. As strong as these two performances are, Malonn Lévana Malonn as Laure's little sister Jeanne steals every scene she is in. Given a secret to keep half-way through, she crackles and delights every time you see her and wonder if she can keep the confidence.

As delightful as the children are, the theme of a young girl yearning to be a boy is presented but hardly explored. The film is episodic, one summer in the life of a mixed up girl. Laure's reasons for taking things so far are never dealt with beyond surface levels, and no resonance to wider concerns in society are present. The narrative strains with such insubstantial fare, but never breaks. Fans of such coming-of-age tales as Stand By Me or Yamada's Village of Dreams will enjoy this tale.

A family moves into a new neighborhood. The parents have a 10 year old and a younger daughter. Lisa befriends the 10 year old and asks for his name. He reveals it's Mikhael. He makes new friends. He gets into a fight and his secret is discovered by his mother. He's actually a girl named Laure. The mother forces Laure to wear a dress and apologize.

There's got to be a better way to reveal Laure's sex other than having her stand there naked. It's too deliberate as a visual. The story may even work better if we know she's a girl from the start. The audience can follow her journey more naturally. There is also the last act. There is good tension after Laure's exposure but it seems like the movie is holding back its final punch. That might account for the movie's short length. It's heart-breaking to see Laure struggling for her identity. I don't know if the actress could perform it but she could have put it over the top with a real intense breakdown.