XXY

XXY is a marvelous Argentinean film by first time director Lucia Puenzo (who also wrote the screenplay). It is a sensitively told story of 15 year old Alex (Ines Efron) who is a hermaphrodite. Her parents (Ricardo Darin and Valeria Bertocelli) have taken her away from Argentina to a rural town in Uraguay in order to help her cope. Her mother has invited a well known doctor Ramiro (German Palacios) and his wife Erika (Carolina Pelleritti) and son Alvaro (Martin Pirayansky) to visit and see what can be done for Alex. But her father doesn't even know why these people are coming. It is because of the possibility of the doctor performing an operation to make Alex into one sex (probably male). Alex has stopped taking the hormones that are supposed to actually make her more of a female. The film also touches, although briefly, the plight of endangered species (Alex's father is a marine biologist).

The story is told without judgment. I felt so sorry for Alex. There is no room in this cruel world for people like her who are different. Several events happen and one of them is life changing for Alvaro, who develops a fondness for Alex. All of the acting is terrific. Darin is a favorite actor of mine and he does wonderful work here as Alex's sensitive dad. And you Efron is just amazing as Alex. She and Puenzo have won several awards at festivals and the film won the top prize at Critics Week at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

The film is playing only at one theater in NYC. It is a very small release. But the distributor told me that the DVD will be released in November. So make note of that and put it on your list of DVDs to see (because seeing it in the theater will be tough) when it comes out.