I bought this movie through the Amazon Marketplace based on the high rating and many positive reviews. And now having seen the movie, I sit with a somewhat disappointing feeling. The movie wasn't bad or anything, but it wasn't as amazing as people apparently made it out to be.

The story was good and interesting, but the story wasn't given all the time needed to fully utilize every potential it had. It felt like running out of time really cut the movie short at a much too early moment.

It should be said that "XXY" is actually a movie experience that should be seen, because it has a beautiful storyline. But more so, it was brought to the screen by a group of very talented actors and actresses, and had a skilled director pulling the strings.

I am rating "XXY" a mere five out of ten stars, because it didn't live up to what the reviews and ratings had made it up to be. Sure it was a beautiful movie in many ways, but it was a real shame that it didn't see all of its potential, because it could have been so much more.

In a small coastal town of fishermen in Uruguay, the biologist Kraken (Ricardo Darín) works and lives in a house at the sea side with his wife Suli (Valeria Bertuccelli) and their aggressive fifteen year-old daughter Alex (Inés Efron).

When Suli welcomes her former best friend Erika (Carolina Peleritti) that comes with her husband, the surgeon Ramiro (Germán Palacios) and their teenage son Alvaro (Martín Piroyansky) to spend a couple of days with her family, Kraken learns that his wife invited Ramiro to operate Alex. Meanwhile Alex and Alvaro feel attracted by each other; however, Alvaro finds that Alex is hermaphrodite and she finds that Alvaro is gay. But the troubled and outcast Alex has the right to choose what gender she wants for her.

"XXY" is a cruel and heartbreaking movie about coming of age, rejection, sexuality and choices. Alex has loving parents but is rejected by the locals and is not sure about her sexuality while Alvaro is gay, rejected by his father and also a confused teenager. The story is very well developed and supported by magnificent performances.

For those like me that do not understand the title "XXY", I searched in Internet and found in Wikipedia that "Klinefelter's Syndrome, 47, XXY, or XXY syndrome is a condition in which a human has an extra X chromosome. While females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY, affected individuals have at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y chromosome." However, Alex is clearly hermaphrodite and the article does not mention this medical condition for XXY Males. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "XXY"

It's a finely executed film about gawky Iñes Efron. She's a fifteen-year-old girl, caught in the middle of her growth spurt, who has to decide whether to keep taking her "corticoids" and remain female, or to quit taking them, undergo surgery, and "masculinize." I think the title -- XXY -- may be misleading. My understanding is that XXY individuals are males but perhaps with less facial hair and smaller penises, and they're usually infertile.

Efron is definitely a young girl -- and what a girl! She's not beautiful but is intensely attractive. From certain angles, with her short haircut, she could almost pass for a high-school boy in, say, 1970. But mostly she looks like the disturbed girl she truly is. She has one of the most expressive faces I've seen in years.

The movie makes it clear that she has the external reproductive organs of both sexes. There is no full frontal nudity, though there's a surprising amount of topless footage, but she's seen urinating on the beach, standing up and facing away from the camera. And when she gets horny, her impulse is to sodomize the boy she's with. If I'm not mistaken, the penis in cases like this is not much more than an enlarged clitoris. There is still some physical material that's left unclear, but it's nothing compared to Hillary Swank's dalliance with Chloë Sevigny in "Boys Don't Cry."

The movie begins a bit sluggishly because we're not immediately introduced to the characters and don't know exactly what the hell is going on. Over time, we gather that two families share a beach house where they try to protect and heal endangered species of sea turtles. Efron's father is a butcher, and he has a face made for the camera.

The other family head is a doctor, a thoughtful and quiet man, who suggests that surgery would solve Efron's problem. The penis would be removed. (Ewww.) But that's kind of beside the point. The point is that Efron must make up her own mind. Her present state is intolerable. Those who know about her condition ridicule her. Some young rascals try to rape her, using what there is of her vagina. She decides to discard her pills and grow up into a man. It's a tough row to hoe, no matter what choice she makes.

It was shot at a remote beach location in Argentina. I somehow always figured Argentina for semi-tropical climate and plenty of sunshine, but this beach cottage is pretty lonely and the photographer effectively captures the almost sepulchral moodiness of the place. The wind moans, the sand is an uninviting color, there is a constant overcast, and it looks chilly all the time. We could be looking at the Baltic Sea.

There are some elements of the story that I'm kind of skipping over for reasons of space and time. Efron sodomizes her young friend, who is attracted to her, and afterwards he admits that he enjoyed it. This kid deserves some scrutiny. How about no surgery for Efron and some surgery for her boyfriend, replacing his penis with a blind pouch. It works.

But if some of it is vague, or even medically absurd, there's no escaping the fact that it's fine film, made for a mature audience.