Movie Review: Ma Vie En Rose

Section I: Summary

The French-Belgian film (the director was Belgian) Ma Vie En Rose (My Life in Pink) is a story set in France about a family of six (Mom - Hanna, Dad - Pierre, three sons (Ludovic being the youngest, and Daughter) in which the 7 year old son, Ludovic (Ludo for short), has a gender identity disorder. Ludo thinks he's a girl and God mistakenly made him a boy when his second X chromosome didn't go down the chimney. He attempts to correct this mistake by dressing like and acting like a girl. At first, Ludo's parents find his behavior humorous. However, after repeated incidents of girlish behavior - including dressing up like a girl and pretending to marry his best friend, Jerome - his parents start to think there's a serious problem and find a psychologist to help their son. The psychologist is apparently unsuccessful in convincing Ludo that he is meant to be a boy. His continued behavior considerably stresses his parents. They are at times accepting of the way he is and at other times exasperated and livid at him for being so indecisive about his sexuality. But his problems are also affecting his school life (the parents of Ludo's classmates successfully petition the school to expel him) and his social life [his friends make fun of him and call him bent (gay)]. After Pierre (Ludo's father) is mysteriously laid-off (Jerome's father is Pierre's boss), Pierre finds another job. However, this job calls for the family to move from the suburbs of Paris. This move let's Ludo and his family get a fresh start.

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Section II: Multi-axial Diagnosis

Axis 1: Gender Identity Disorder

Axis 2: No Known

Axis 3: No Known

Axis 4: Problems with primary support group; Problems with relationship to peers; educational problems (Ludo was kicked out of school)

Axis 5: Deferred

Section III: DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Criteria for Gender Identity Disorder

A. A strong and persistent cross-gender identification (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex)/

In children, the disturbance is manifested by four (or more) of the following:

(1) Repeatedly stated desire to be, or insistence that he or she is the other sex.

(2) In boys, preference for cross-dressing or simulating female attire. In girls, insistence on wearing only stereotypical masculine clothing.

(3) Strong and persistent preferences for cross-sex roles in make-believe play or persistent fantasies of being the other sex.

(4) Intense desire to participate in the stereotypical games and pastimes of the other sex.

(5) Strong preference for playmates of the other sex.

In adolescents and adults, the disturbance is manifested by symptoms such as a stated desire to be the other sex, frequent passing as the other sex, desire to live or be treated as the other sex, or the conviction that he or she has the typical feelings and reactions of the other sex.

B. Persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex.

In children, the disturbance is manifested by any of the following: in boys, assertion that his penis or testes are disgusting or will disappear or assertion that it would be better not to have a penis, or aversion toward rough-and-tumble play and rejection of male stereotypical toys, games, and activities; in girls, rejection of urinating in a sitting position, assertion that she has or will grow a penis, or assertion that she does not want to grow breasts or menstruate, or marked aversion toward normative feminine clothing.

In adolescents and adults, the disturbance is manifested by symptoms such as preoccupation with getting rid of primary and secondary sex characteristics (e.g., request for hormones, surgery, or other procedures to physically alter sexual characteristics to simulate the other sex) or belief that he or she was born the wrong sex.

C. The disturbance is not concurrent with a physical intersex condition.

D. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Section IV: Evidence for Gender Identity Disorder

A (1) Repeatedly stated desire to be, or insistence that he or she is, the other sex

- Ludo tells his grandmother when she picks him up from school that he and his best friend will get married when he's a girl.

- Ludo admits to his mother that he's going to marry Jerome when he's not a boy.

- Ludo tells his therapist that he's a girlboy.

- Ludo attempts to prove to Jerome that he's a girlboy by peeing while sitting down.

- Ludo tells his sister that he will have his period.

A (2) Preference for cross-dressing or simulating female attire

- During a school play of Snow White, Ludo locks Sophie (who plays Snow White) in the bathroom, puts on her Snow White dress, and plays Snow White in the play.

- Ludo wears a skirt to Sophie's birthday party.

- At Ludo's parent's housewarming party, Ludo attends the party in drag.

- Ludo wears Jerome's dead sister's dress when he's over at his house.

- Ludo is seen in the kitchen wearing his shorts backwards (like a woman would).

- At Christine's birthday party at the end of the movie, Ludo is asked by Christine to wear her dress. He considers it. But upon realizing how his parents would feel, he declines.

A (3) Strong and persistent preferences for cross-sex roles in make-believe play or persistent fantasies of being another sex

- After Ludo drinks the glass of champagne he goes with