In this illuminating and moving documentary, seven-year-old Sasha questions her gender – and challenges prejudice
Seven-year-old Sasha lives in provincial
France, loves ballet classes, dolls, dresses and her family. She may have been born male, but she’s known at least since she was four that she’s really a girl. Luckily, her mother, Karine, completely supports her child and, together with Dad and the Sasha’s four loving siblings, the family embarks on a process of transition. This involves, among many other daunting steps, visiting a psychiatrist specialising in gender dysphoria in
Paris to discuss the situation, including whether (when the time comes) to use hormone treatment as puberty starts, managing friendships and, most importantly, persuading Sasha’s school to recognise her as a girl. That last step appears not to go so well due to a more conventional school principal, but Sasha and her parents persist.
This extraordinary documentary by director Sebastien Lifshitz, who has made many films about the LGBTQ+ experience (Wild Side, Bambi, Open Bodies), achieves a remarkable degree of intimacy with its young subject and her family. Getting up close and personal through tightly focused, limpid cinematography by Paul Guilhaume, the film allows us to study every flicker of expression on the faces of Sasha and the adults around her.