Alex Valentin My Life in Pink is a french drama of a 7 year old boy named Ludovic who wishes to be a girl, henceforth decides to dress and act like one, but his actions begin to slowly anger the citizens of the conservative neighborhood they live in, and the problems begin.A film that takes a rarely touched upon subject and treats it with care and gravity. Filming it in such a way that you are experiencing the events through the eyes of Ludovic, you grow a care for the child, because he is so innocent and sincere that you can't help but feel bad or angry at the people berating and punishing him all throughout the story.Ludovic's parents had a difficult role as they try to control and take away something that is slowly but surely beginning to affect their normal lives as well. Their acting is just fantastic, and they were written very well, and while the film revolves around Ludovic, the stars of the film are his parents IMO. Props to Michèle Laroque and Jean- Philippe Écoffey.With a well executed drama, the film also has very subtle symbolism on religion and social norms that i feel should be noted, as it gives an extra sense of value to the film, especially since the filmmakers didn't make the symbolism obvious and in your face.The only thing i can say i didn't like was the ending, while the whole scene felt mostly metaphorical, and it's possible i missed something, i can't help but feel it was forced and poorly handled to have a happy ending. but that is only one small part of an otherwise good drama. If you enjoy, heartfelt, social dramas i feel you may enjoy the film.

Snow4849 Deriving its title from "La Vie en Rose" (one of the most famous French songs in history), "Ma Vie en Rose" is a courageous film that presents a controversial topic in a truly captivating, childlike light.Ludovic Fabre is convinced that he was meant to be born a little girl. With all his seven-year-old wisdom, he calmly explains that his male gender is simply "a scientific error," one that he will soon correct. But instead of becoming female, Ludo becomes prey. His schoolmates tease him, his principal expels him, and his soccer teammates beat him up. Ludo's two older brothers, who are on the same soccer team, do nothing but watch.Throughout the film, the true colors of Ludo's brothers and of everyone around him are revealed as they each try to deal with his behavior. Ludo's teacher makes an admirable speech about respecting those different from you. Ludo and his eccentric grandmother grow closer. But a terrible rift develops between Ludo and his seemingly-loving mother, Hanna. When her family is living in a comfortable neighborhood and her husband has a good job, Hanna makes every possible excuse for Ludo's gender confusion. She lets him grow his hair long and even wear a skirt, and when Pierre, Ludo's father, makes the mere suggestion to cut their son's long hair, Hanna snaps, "Well, why don't we just crucify him?" But in a powerful and painful shock, Hanna is revealed to be only a fair-weather friend to her son. After Pierre is fired (apparently because of Ludo's attempts to "marry" the boss's son), Hanna suddenly turns on Ludo, screaming and snapping at him, blaming him for all the family's problems. Both Ludo and the viewer feel completely crushed and betrayed. After Hanna physically abuses him in a scene of scary intensity, Ludo runs away, and the ending that follows is truly remarkable.

gftbiloxi The most obvious way to read MA VIE EN ROSE is as the tale of difficulties faces by a very young boy who is very likely transgenderd--but given the multi-layered nature of the film this is actually a rather narrow point of view. It would be more accurate to describe the film as a rather sly assault on a cookie-cutter society that reacts with a herd mentality toward anything in the least unusual. And Ludovic Fabre is a most unusual child: barely into school, he has become convinced that he is a girl, and in his childhood innocence he sees absolutely nothing socially amiss with the idea.The film begins with a party at which neighbors gather to welcome the newly arrived Fabre family--only to be, along with the family, extremely disconcerted when Ludovic makes an entrance in meticulously applied make-up and a pink dress. His family passes the incident off as a joke, but Ludovic proves remarkably single-minded, and when he draws a neighborhood child into his fantasies he also incurs neighborhood hysteria. The result is at once comic and unpleasantly vicious as his classmates, his neighbors, and eventually his family gradually turn upon him.Although there are one or two problems with character development in the script, the cast--particularly Georges du Fresne as Ludovic and Helene Vincent as free-spirit grandmother Elizabeth--is superlative, and director Alain Berliner balances the serio-comic story with a very light touch. Viewers will laugh a little, cry a little, and ultimately come away from the film feeling an uncertain hope. The fact that this film is rated "R" is merely so much more evidence of the power of the herd to dictate standards of normalcy--one or two profanities aside, there is absolutely nothing in the film to offend any intelligent viewer, and the film will hold a special appeal for older children who have been targeted as in any way different by their peers... and for the many adults who remember what it was like to be a victim of a society that prizes conformity over imagination, creativity, honesty, integrity, and self-awareness. Strongly recommended.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

TooShortforThatGesture I find myself at an unusual loss trying to decide how to rate this film. All in all, I think I don't think I liked the film, but some of that is due to problems in the film while some stems from problems in the characterizations and the degree to which I was bothered by how the parents of the child related to him. I also think that it is ultimately a sad film that is hurt by the attempt to attach a sort of sunny "everything's gonna be OK" ending.In parts, I think this film does a great job of portraying how a young boy, who might be effeminate or who might be gay or who might be transsexual, experiences the world as his personality begins to come into conflict with the ways in which a the world expects a young boy to behave. I think it captures well the sense of confusion and panic that can occur to any child when the sense of a warm, safe family environment is suddenly punctured when it bumps up against societal expectations --- when YOU aren't doing anything different than before, but suddenly everyone is unhappy with you. I do feel that the reactions of the community to this child seemed over-the-top and unrealistic. The idea that the whole neighborhood would band together to ostracize a family who has a 7-year old boy who likes to wear dresses and play with dolls is hard to believe. Of course, we live in a world where in the same week, the Texas legislature can vote 135-6 to ban gay foster parents while the Connecticut Senate votes 26-8 to allow allow same-sex civil unions, so geography may be destiny, and maybe there really are parts of France where parents would sign a petition to oust an effeminate 7-year from his school and the school would agree.To me the emotional heart of the movie was in how the parents behaved, rather than in how the child was reacting. I was horrified by many of the things they said and did (or didn't say and didn't do) to their son as the movie went on. One of things in this movie that left me sad is that, while I think we are supposed to believe at the end that all is well and that the parents have accepted their son as he is, there is really nothing in their behavior throughout the rest of the movie that helps you believe this. They both reject him so thoroughly and are ultimately so MEAN to him (especially the mother, who on more than one occasion blames him to his face for their troubles) that one has to think they will continue to do so. They seem to under-react to the freezer incident (which was, after all, a SUICIDE attempt by a 7 year old (!!!!) And, the fact that the family appears so loving and supportive in the beginning of the film (and that the other "straight" children appear happy and well-adjusted) only underscores the horror of what the their other son must be experiencing as HE is rejected by these otherwise supportive parents. But, I also felt that all of the parents' bad behavior was out-of-character given what we are otherwise shown about them in a way that suggests there is a problem with the script/characterizations. (As an aside, I also found it odd that many conversations in the film that I would expect to take place privately took place with a larger audience - i.e. the child is present when the shrink talks about the boy's behavior, the other children are present when the parents fight about the boy, etc. But I don't know if this is bad writing or if these are just US/France cultural differences in play.)Either way, and no matter what the end of the movie would have you think, the boy has been pretty battered by how he's been treated (especially by his parents -- it's one thing to have the world against you, but if at any age, let alone 7 years old, you don't have a safe secure home world, you're really screwed) and I don't think you get over that very easily. Heck, he MOVES OUT at the age of 7 to live with his grandmother because everyone recognizes he'll be better off there. And then is effective forced back home because the family is moving. He's lost the innocent security of childhood years before the age that most people are forced to go through that.So, I didn't hate the movie and it had moments that felt very truthful (I loved when the psychologist tells the boy that there just may be things that his parents will never understand -- I'm just not sure he was at an age to really hear her) but there is a lot of stuff in the movie of which I am suspect and which feels contrived. If it is contrived, there's a problem, but to the extent that it's just reflecting a reality other than what I think exists, then maybe it's good. But, either way, I am bothered by the suggestion in many reviews that this is some sort of "feel-good" movie. At the end of it all, you still have a boy who has been traumatize by this family and neighbors and who is likely to continue to face similar problems for years to come.