Communications and Media

The 1997 Belgian film Ma vie en rose (My Life in Pink) directed by Alain Berliner deals with an extremely controversial theme involving transgender identities. More than just because of the theme, the controversy surrounding this film generates from the fact that the protagonist is just an 11-year old boy named Ludovic who refuses to accept his biologically masculine identity and insists that he is a girl, or will become so someday by some divine providence. Ma vie en rose earned itself critical acclamation for casting a searching glance into the prevalence of transsexualism and gender crises among adolescents and how these issues are viewed by orthodox societies. This paper is going to respond to five questions relating to the film.

1. What did Ludovic believe about himself and the world
Ludovic, the protagonist of the film Ma vie en rose, cherished the fantastical idea that someday he will become what he identifies himself with, i.e., a girl. The audience watches the film through the innocent vision of Ludovic who viewed his own identity as perfectly natural, failing to comprehend why others around him showed hostility to his imagined change of sexual roles.      

2. Describe the specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors that Ludo adopted that challenged the gender traditions of his family and the people around them.
The film contains many instances when Ludovic behaved like a transgendered, so as to give the impression that he does not relate to his biological identity. He sometimes conveyed this verbally as in the scene when he rushed away from home claiming that he got his premenstrual cycle. On another occasion, the 11-year old boy upon befriending his neighbor Jrme put on the attire of Jrmes sister, unbeknownst to her demise. In both cases however, the social and family norms of gender traditions are violated, thus generating turmoil in the family and among friends and neighbors.              

3. How did others around him react to his presentation of self
Lev (2004) argues that Ludovic underwent tremendous mental anguish not because of his biological identity, but for the fact that his parents and peers did not consider him to be what he was not in reality (p.337). Despite his valiant efforts to be seen as a girl, his parents, neighbors and friends constantly mocked him in a mild tone believing it to be a harmless variant of identity disorder problems. The generic sense of intolerance to transsexual behavior is what the director wants his viewers to take note of. Chiland (2005) raises a pertinent question in this regard are gender identity disorders and gender identity variations similar issues (p.67) In case of Ludovic we see that there was a fine line between disorder and variation. Disorder implies apparent incurability whereas variations are likely to turn normal as the affected kid grows up.            

4. What impact did his differences have on his relationships
Relationships are depicted in the film primarily as long and winding battles among conflicting ideologies, between traditionalism vs. receptivity, and between affection and disbelief at having being denied to pursue ones own wishes. The Fabre family mingled very well with all their neighbors in the beginning but eventually had to face strong opposition from others in the society for Ludovics womanlike behavior. The two most important relations to have come out of the film were between Ludovic and Jrme and Ludovic and Chris. While Jrme developed a compassionate bond with Ludovic, Chris being a transgender herself found it decidedly convenient to swap roles with Ludovic at her birthday. However, in the end all relations were untangled as Ludovics parents had to make reconciliation with their fate.          

5. What was the resolve to the life of isolation and guilt presented in the story
The swapping of sexual roles shown in the cinema is quite intriguing from literary points of view. It somehow justifies Ludovics wretched existence of incertitude and humiliation. Chriss female-to-male transsexuality complements Ludovics male-to-female transformation. The prevalent notions of indifference and intense rebuttal of transsexuality by the society are quashed in the end, almost as if by some kind of providential intervention that Ludovic sought earlier, marking a happy ending of the film.