Ma vie en rose

Ma vie en Rose
Release poster
Directed by	Alain Berliner
Written by	Alain Berliner Chris Vander Stappen
Produced by	Carole Scotta
Starring	Michèle Laroque Jean-Philippe Écoffey Hélène Vincent Georges Du Fresne
Cinematography	Yves Cape
Edited by	Sandrine Deegen
Music by	Dominique Dalcan Zazie
Production companies	Canal+ Eurimages CNC TF1 Films Production
Distributed by	Haut et Court (France) Blue Light Distribution (United Kingdom)
Release date	28 May 1997 (1997-05-28) (France) 24 October 1997 (1997-10-24) (United Kingdom)
Running time	89 minutes[1]
Countries	France Belgium United Kingdom
Language	French
Budget	$3.2 million
Box office	$7.1 million[2]

Ma vie en rose (English translation: My Life in Pink) is a 1997 Belgian drama film directed by Alain Berliner. It tells the story of Ludovic, a child who is seen by family and community as a boy, but consistently communicates being a girl. The film depicts Ludovic's family struggling to accept this transgressive gender expression. The film was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.^[3][4]

Plot[]

The Fabre family move into their dream house with wonderful neighbors, where everything seems perfect. Their youngest child, Ludovic, is biologically male, but has begun to question his gender, feels that he is a girl, and wants to live as female. The rest of the family decide to humor Ludovic, rationalizing that their child is only trying to find an identity and is going through a temporary phase.

Trouble begins when Ludovic befriends Jérôme, the son of Pierre's boss whose family lives across from the Fabres, and expresses a desire to marry him. When visiting Jérôme's house, Ludovic enters the bedroom of Jérôme's sister and puts on one of her dresses, not knowing that his parents were preserving the room after she died. Jérôme's mother sees this and she and the rest of the neighbors are horrified. The community turns against Ludovic and, by extension, the rest of the Fabre family. After Ludovic stands in as Snow White in a school play, the parents of the other students all sign a petition to have Ludovic expelled. Ludovic's father, under strain as an employee of Jérôme's father, is unable to cope and causes conflict within the family. Ludovic is assaulted by the boys on the soccer team in the locker room after a match. His brother tries to stop it, but is held back. After a particularly bad argument, Ludovic attempts to mend the situation by hiding in a freezer to commit suicide, but is found in time and allowed to wear a skirt to a neighborhood party. While the other neighbors greet Ludo warmly, Pierre gets fired the next day and finds his house spray-painted with graffiti. Ludo runs out of the house, distraught. Hanna, Ludovic's mother, blames Ludovic for everything that has gone wrong. In order to set her child straight, she cuts Ludovic's hair short. Resenting Jean for this, Ludo goes to live with grandmother Élisabeth. When Ludo and Élisabeth go visit Ludo's parents one weekend, the father announces that he has a new job, but it is out of town and they have to move.

At their new house, Ludovic is befriended by Chris Delvigne, a masculine little girl. Chris' mother invites Ludovic to Chris' dress-up birthday party, which Ludo attends in a musketeer outfit. Chris, unhappy in a princess outfit, asks Ludo to swap and has the other young party guests force Ludo to do so upon refusal. When Ludovic's mother sees them, she fears that their troubles are beginning again and lashes out by hitting Ludo until the other party guests restrain her.

Hanna follows Ludovic to a billboard where she is shocked to see Ludo in the picture, running away with Pam, the Barbie-like protagonist. When she tries to follow her, she falls through the ground and awakens at home. She and Ludovic's father assure Ludo that they will not try to control his life any more. In turn, Ludo assures his mother that he never really intended to run away with Pam. Hanna, happy to see her, accepts Ludo's identity and says Ludo will always be her child.

Cast[]

Production[]

Although internationally presented as a Belgian film because of the nationality of Berliner, its director and co-screenwriter, the film is an international co-production between companies in Belgium, the United Kingdom and France – the majority of the production work was done by the French independent film house Haut et Court and the shooting took place south of Paris, France, near the commune of Évry.

The color timing in the film is significant: it changes as parents exit from the school play, switching to cold blue tones.^{[citation needed]}

Reception[]

In the United States the film received an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, an unusual decision because the film has minimal sexual content, minimal violence, and mild language. Those opposed to the rating believe that the rating was the result of transphobia.^[5]

The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also won the Crystal Globe award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

• Ma vie en rose at IMDb
• Ma vie en rose at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ma vie en rose at AllMovie
• Ma vie en rose at Box Office Mojo
• Sony Pictures Section on the film
• Why is Ma Vie en Rose rated R?