Ma Vie en Rose, also known as My Life in Pink, offers us a delightfully sensitive portrait of seven-year-old Ludovic, anatomically born male, who comes out to her family and friends as a transgender girl.
Made in 1997, well before the sociopolitical spotlight on adult transgender issues, Ma Vie en Rose, or My Life in Pink, offered us a delightfully sensitive portrait of seven-year-old Ludovic, anatomically born male, who comes out to her family as a transgender girl. "My other X chromosome accidentally landed in the trash!" she declares.
An extraordinary performance by young Georges Du Fresne as young Ludovic is at the core of the film’s success. Part gentle fantasy and part harsh reality, Ma Vie en Rose invites us into Ludovic’s mind as she determines to live the life she was meant to live.
Her family and friends each react to her coming out in different ways. But what is on view here is not “good guys and bad guys,” but human beings, struggling to define themselves, and fearing what they cannot explain. Ludovic’s family have their good moments…and bad. Her playmates try to understand her…and bully her. And the neighbors accept her…and exile her. But Ludovic endures this shame and blame on the road to eventual liberation.
In the end, Ma Vie en Rose offers an occasionally very funny and highly entertaining plea for acceptance of our human differences.