| | |  | ARGENTINA | Home » » XXy | | | | | | | Description: | | For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15 year-old Alex (Ines Efron) who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, he | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Ricardo Darin, German Palacios, Jean Pierre Reguerraz, Ines Efron, Martin Piroyanski | | Director:
| Lucia Puenzo | | Format:
| Color, DVD, NTSC | | Language:
| Spanish | | Subtitle:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Film Movement | | Run Time:
| 91 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| October 14, 2008 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 14 reviews |
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53 of 55 found the following review helpful:
 A Life Determining Conflict: Who Am I?Oct 27, 2008
By Grady Harp
The chromosomal abnormality of XXY has been labeled as Klinefelter's Syndrome, hermaphroditism, and Intersex. The 'conception' defect results in a child with both male and female organs and when detected at birth usually results in a decision between physicians and parents to surgically alter the child to be one or the other phenotypic assignments - male or female. In this remarkably sensitive film based on a short story 'Cinismo' by Sergio Bizzio and adapted for the screen by writer/director Lucía Puenzo, XXY becomes a story of understanding and acceptance of a diagnosis by both child and parents and the conflicts such gender variation can present.
Alex (Inés Efron) is the XXY patient of the story, having been raised on the isolated coastline of Uruguay as a girl with the aid of supplemental hormones until age 15, the age when her loving Argentinean parents Kraken (Ricardo Darín) and Suli (Valeria Bertuccelli) have decided she should have her 'offending member' removed, allowing her to become a completely phenotypic female. Alex is deeply conflicted about her situation, refuses to take her medications and enjoys being 'one of the boys' in secret. When Alex's parents invite their surgeon friend Ramiro (Germán Palacios) and his wife Erika (Carolina Pelleritti) to their home to advise them on the surgical alternatives, they are accompanied by their artistic son Alvaro (Martín Piroyansky). There is an attraction between Alex and Alvaro and this ultimately results in a crisis that results in the coming of age and self-acceptance of both youngsters. Lucía Puenzo and her fine cast sensitively explore the interaction between parents and children and the coming to grips with choice of identity. This is yet another challenging and rewarding film from Argentina, one that stands alone as a fine movie, but one that also would be wise to add to the film libraries of high school and college students and of patient resource facilities who deal with problems of gender identity. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 08
19 of 21 found the following review helpful:
'Why do I have to choose?'Oct 08, 2008
By Elliot
"Son of Nietzsche"
15 year old Alex (Inés Efron) was born intersex; she resembles a female (and takes hormones to enhance this), but has male genitals. As she has grown older, her parents moved her from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to an isolated fishing village on the coast of Uruguay, to avoid the questions of friends and relatives. Her mother is desperate for her to become wholly female, and invites a plastic surgeon (along with his wife and son) to their village to discuss surgical options. The son, Alvaro (Martin Piroyansky), is questioning his own sexuality...which becomes all the more confused as he and Alex grow attracted to one another.
XXY (Spanish, English subtitles) deals with age-old themes (social stigma, parental conflict, societal demands for sexual conformity) in a refreshing context. What does it mean to be 'male' or 'female'? Is the pressure to choose one gender or another innate, or socially-enforced? Are the neuroses that young people suffer wholly attributable to parental desire for social orthodoxy? A post-op female-to-male acquaintance of Alex's father advises: "Making her afraid of her body is the worst thing you can do to a child"...(oddly reminiscent of Van Dijk's classic quote: "Sexuality is something granted to everyone, and to teach a child to abstain from this evident intimacy is perhaps the first form of sexual violence to which it is subjected"). XXY does not seek to resolve these (perhaps unresolvable) questions, but does an excellent job of casting light onto such neglected areas of social life.
The acting is remarkable for what must have been challenging roles; completely natural and unselfconscious. The lead characters do a superb job of conveying (frequently through body language and eye movement) the turmoil that they undergo, but credit also to an exceptional supporting cast, including the powerful performance of Ricardo Darín in the role of Alex's father. The camera work and lighting combine with these other aspects to result in a moody, poignant and most memorable film. Highly recommended.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Making choices when there is no choiceSep 26, 2008
By Reader
"cvrcak1"
Being adolescent is hard enough. This film touches up on much more complex issues. What can parents do to help their child choose his/her sex when that child has both? When a person is born with both sexual organs, most parents decide the sex of the child shortly after birth. But Alex's parents felt that is should be their child who should decide their sex. Alex is raised as a girl. But puberty is bringing some hard decision for Alex, her friends and family. Shall Alex remain a girl and have an operation to remove her other organ? This would be easier to answer is Alex knew her sexual preference. She feels she is a boy but there is a fragility in her that is very obvious. There is a moment in a film that I found heartbreaking. Alex sits with her closest friends: high school girlfriend who is sexually active,intrigued and not frightened about Alex's body; Alex's best friend from the local schoool who was stunned to discover that Alex is not just an ordinary girl. Alex's accidental lover, a slightly older boy who discovers after being with Alex that he is really gay - to the shock of his own parents. The bravest decision Alex can make is to acknowledge publicly what she is, not have any surgeries and let time show on who her live partner will be as the time goes by when she can sort out her own emotions. This film is like no other film I have seen so far. It will get you thinking about how complex human sexuality and our emotions really are.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Your film is HONESTOct 02, 2009
By A. S. W.
"Adam Soch"
A letter to Lucía Puenzo:
Dear Lucia, thank you for your amazing film XXY. I just finished watching it on DVD and I am truly moved not only by your artistry and confidence in filmmaking but also by the subject you so sensitively depict. You created an immense emotional human drama from a taboo subject.
Fortunately social norms are in constant change, but we are still living with so many stigmatized topics from the past, and films like yours bring a great contribution to slowly but surely erase society's negative behavior about unusual or dissimilar people. We are all human beings made of the same stuff.
Your film is HONEST. You succeeded to create a non-exploitive wonderful film encouraging us to be sensitive to each other, understand and enjoy the diversity this noble nature is offering. The major characters in your film are interesting, different and talented, young Alex and Alvaro are convincing and touching.
I will cherish this film for a long, long time to come. I will recommend to all my friends and eagerly waiting for your next creation. You are a talented artist.
Respectfully,
Adam
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Poignant, sensitive & visionary - a must see!Feb 05, 2012
By Judy Croome
"Judy Croome | @judy_croome"
XXY is a sensitive and poignant portrayal of the issues facing intersex people. The issues raised for both the intersexed person and their families, the callousness of the medical scientists (to whom the intersexed person is an object for study rather than a person) and how town communities react were unflinchingly examined. Humanity is supposedly civilised, but still as cruel as ever to anything considered different from the norm (the parallel cruelty to the endangered turtles was also significant.)
Both acting and directing in this movie is superb.
Inés Efron as Alex, and Ricardo Darín as her compassionate father Kraken, were both outstanding. With her father's love, support and understanding behind her, Alex's search for her own definition of individuality and sexuality, although it will be lifelong and excruciatingly hard, may be easier than young Alvaro's search, for his homophobic and arrogant father (the surgeon brought in by Alex's mother to "assess" her) spends his time making people "normal" by surgically removing "deformities." Kraken, on the other hand, as a marine biologist working to save turtles whose sex cannot be determined from the outside sees Alex as "perfect."
Lucía Puenzo's direction is subtle, exquisite and deeply thought provoking. XXY is a thoroughly engaging movie and deserves all the awards it won.
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