You watch films like this and wonder how people can be so hateful towards those who simply wish to live their life in their most comfortable skin.

An amazing story of coming of age. I really connected with this movie and I think anyone can connect with the struggles as a child of discovering yourself while be confined by social norms. Amazing acting by Zoé Héran, a truly moving performance. Céline Sciamma is one of the best directors/writers I have ever seen and her ability to portray the difficulties of coming of age is truly brilliant. No one can show the turmoil and yet beauty in growing up like she can. This movie can at times feel slow, but you feel completely invested in the story. You feel as if you are almost in the same room, just another testament to Céline Sciamma's brilliant directing. A must watch film of coming of age.

A taboo topic perfectly managed by the director and screenplayer

Please note that this review contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie, reading reviews may spoil the viewing a bit. Tomboy tackles the complicated and taboo topic of gender identity. Short in duration, it also covers a fairly short period, a few summer days after a move. The film, therefore, remains rather vague on the before and after. The main character, Laure / Mickaël, is first presented without any gender qualifier or mention of their first name until a moving and, I must say, daring scene. The director treats a tween's relationship with their body with both intimacy and delicacy, and Zoé is absolutely exceptional in such an intimate role. Between the difficulty of lying on one side to their family and on the other to the other children, the confusion about their identity, their body, and even their sexual orientation (relationship with Lisa), the film is a touching tableau of identity questions of a young teenager. Its very memorable ending deals with the reaction of others after a forced coming-out. And the last scene, like Inception's spinning top, leaves a lot to the spectator's interpretation.

A good film overall, and the interactions between the two siblings are just magical and heart-melting. Very difficult, tricky subject (young girl sees herself/himself - and wants others to see her /him- as a boy) given an original and realistic representation. While the adults’ response was definitely harmful, I can also understand them - Laure-Mikael is 10/11 years old - we can understand the quandary of wanting to respect his wishes to be identified as male, but also worry about the potential hurt and dangers that will inevitably come from other kids’ and the community’s lack of understanding. And at what age can someone be sure of how they identify, or does age even matter? So many difficult questions - the movie doesn’t answer them, but it does present them in a refreshingly real way, and there is some hope in the not-altogether-happy ending.

Un film lent et malsain qui brouille sournoisement les frontières entre garçons et filles. On se prend à dire "il" en parlant de la petite Laure. Les réactions de l'entourage, entre laisser faire et humiliation, sont dans la caricature, probablement afin de susciter l'empathie. L'homosexualité est banalisée. Avec le mensonge en toile de fond. Un film qui provoque le malaise et détruira malheureusement un peu plus la jeune génération exposée scolairement de façon précoce à ce genre de film pro-théorie du genre (de l'aveu même de la réalisatrice). Je le déconseille fortement aux parents souhaitant éduquer leurs enfants à la liberté et aux valeurs morales. (On ne peut pas mettre moins d'une étoile, c'est dommage...)

Oh my god! THIS movie is very relatable!

Well acted, well written, and touching story. The movie made my heart ache with sadness and disappointment, very moving.

Such a sweet movie. It does an amazing job at reflecting how the girl feels. Just as it should be. This really teaches you something. You'll think about it after watching it.

Great movie that looks at the idea of finding ones sexual identification through the eyes of a child.

A French tween version of Boys Don't Cry that would NEVER be made in North America featuring a pair of positively fearless young female actors.

Tomboy is a movie about a young girl who moves into a new neighborhood and presents as a boy to all the local kids. It is handled so matter-of-factly that it’s kind of a non-issue until the last 20 minutes of the movie. I guess they were trying to create tension out of the fact that the other kids might discover the truth, but it always ended up without that revelation, so I never felt the tension. Most of the movie is just a boy learning to fit in with a new group of friends, while getting his first girlfriend. I found it quite dull and was bored through most of the film. The mere fact that a character is transgender isn’t enough to make mundane life interesting for me. Then it shifts in the final moments of the film and I was annoyed and mad for him, which isn’t enjoyable either. The conclusion was completely unsatisfying. It feels like nothing is resolved, and there are more questions about what will happen next rather than answers. There’s so little to Tomboy that it probably could have been told in a short film. I appreciate that this kind of film can be impactful for some people, and it’s nice to see different lifestyles represented on the big screen. However, I’ll be more interested when those with different lifestyles are doing something more in movies than just being defined by their differences. My apologies if any of this reads as offensive to anyone, I know gender issues are a sensitive topic, and I’m not well-educated on how to properly address them. I did my best to remain respectful while still explaining what didn’t work for me in Tomboy. Ranking on my Flickchart Loses to I Married a Witch Loses to The Cell Wins against The Happening Loses to Being John Malkovich WIns against Cocktail Loses to The Thomas Crown Affair Loses to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Loses to Inherit the Wind Loses to Child 44 Wins against Monster’s Ball Loses to Olympus Has Fallen Tomboy ranked 1482 out of 1763 or 16%

We loved this piece of French cinéma vérité. Laure moves to a new neighbourhood and convinces her sub-teenage chums that she is Mikael. Things get ever more complicated until the inevitable dénouement. Very convincing evocation of time and place.

Beautiful and immensely engaging. Tomboy, like Moonlight, captures childhood in its posture and play with seeming ease and remarkable poise. Each scene is a powerful combination of hope, fear, trust, and deceit.

(3.5 stars) It's simplicity makes it more suited to a feature length CBBC drama yet you can't help but admire the poignancy behind this child's struggle with identity and social belonging.

Charming, sad little story, which exerts an effortless grip on your heart right from the start.

the movie as a whole is good enough. a sweet portrayal of a pretty carefree summer for the kids in this French village. what i did not like was the way the mother dealt with the situation once it came out, and i was amazed at how far we have come in the few years since it was released. there is no mention of the word transgender, but you get the feeling that Laure really feels like a boy and has no idea that there is more than one way for this to go.

Full review at WordsonFilms.com Given the film's subject matter-gender identity among children-the film could have easily been quite terrible. Childhood, growing up, self-discovery, and gender (and all that comes with it) are each incredibly complicated, nuanced, and emotional topics on their own. To tackle them all at once takes a skill, an intelligence, and a restraint that is not seen as often as one might like. Sciamma's screenplay is extremely well-written; it takes it's characters seriously without robbing them of their youth, and it presents tricky topics in a sincere, honest, and refreshingly unsensationalized way, and it does all of that without ever becoming too saccharine either.

Caring illustration of gender struggle.

FAVORITE MOVIE IN THE WORLD