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''XXY'' is a 2007
Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...
written and directed by
Lucía Puenzo Lucía Puenzo (born 28 November 1976, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine author, screenwriter and film director. She is the daughter of the Oscar-winning film director, producer, and screenplay writer, Luis Puenzo. Early life Puenzo studied literat ...
and starring Ricardo Darín,
Valeria Bertuccelli Valeria Bertuccelli (born 1969, 30 November) is an Argentine film and television actress. Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín ...
, Inés Efron and
Martín Piroyansky Martín Piroyansky (born 3 March 1986) is an Argentine actor and film director. He has appeared in more than forty films since 1998. Selected filmography References External links * 1986 births Living people Argentine male film ac ...
. The film tells the story of a 15-year-old intersex person, the way her family copes with her condition and the ultimate decision that she must eventually make as she struggles to define her own
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...
within a society that expects certain behaviors from every individual. ''XXY'' received positive reviews from critics, winning the Critics' Week grand prize at the 2007
Cannes film festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...
, as well as the ACID/CCAS Support Award. It was nominated for eight awards at the 2008
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...
, winning three of them including Best Film, and was nominated or won awards at a number of other foreign film festivals. It was chosen to close the 2008
Melbourne Queer Film Festival The Melbourne Queer Film Festival is an annual LGBT film festival held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Held in November, the festival is regarded as the largest queer film event in the Southern Hemisphere. The festival attracts around 23,0 ...
and had a short run theatrical release before being released onto DVD. The film also won the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film and the Golden Crow Pheasant at the
International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...
. The film's title appears to be a reference to
Klinefelter syndrome Klinefelter syndrome (KS), also known as 47,XXY, is an aneuploid genetic condition where a male has an additional copy of the X chromosome. The primary features are infertility and small, poorly functioning testicles. Usually, symptoms are sub ...
, a condition in which boys/men have an extra X chromosome. Males affected with Klinefelter syndrome often do not show highly-visible symptoms and are not aware of their condition, unless diagnosed later in life (usually due to infertility). It can be ascertained throughout the film that the main character has typical female sexual characteristics, with the exception of an enlarged clitoris, although this is coupled with an apparent hormonal regimentation. This is inconsistent with the condition of 47XXY aka Klinefelter Syndrome, since those who have it are anatomically and biologically male.


Plot

Alex Kraken is a 15-year-old intersex person, born with both male and female genitals, who has been living and presenting herself as female and using medicines to suppress
masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors ...
features, such as a
beard A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
, and to attempt to have more
feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...
features. At the time of the movie, Alex has recently stopped taking her medication without telling her parents, which will cause her masculine features to begin to develop more. Alex's parents moved with her from
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
to a village by the sea in
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, to avoid the society's discriminatory views and strict gender expectations. They wanted to help shelter her from bullying she was experiencing. Her father, Néstor Kraken, is a marine biologist who has written a book on sexuality and makes a living treating wounded animals found by fishermen. Her mother, Suli, invites friends from Argentina: a surgeon, his wife and teenage son Álvaro. The purpose, unknown to Néstor and Alex, is to discuss the possibilities of
sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and a ...
, with Suli quietly hoping that Alex will decide to be female and go through with a surgery in the beginning. The introduction of the relationship between Alex and Álvaro further complicates the drama of the movie. When Alex asks Álvaro directly if he would like to have sex, she is initially denied, but Álvaro later follows her from the beach and she seduces him. She begins to have
anal intercourse Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. O ...
with him (with her as the penetrative partner), and while Álvaro is surprised he does not stop Alex. Nestor catches sight of them through the door and they stop, and Alvaro rushes out feeling conflicted and still in a panic at the unexpected reversal in sexual roles. When Alex later apologizes, Álvaro reveals that he liked it and has no bad feelings towards her. This scene opens the dialogue for the audience about gender roles and allows both characters, Alex and Álvaro, a chance to question their own identities and desires. Álvaro is raised by fairly conservative parents, and towards the end of the movie his father even expresses the desire that he hoped his son was not gay. However, Álvaro begins to question himself because he enjoyed the sexual experience with Alex even though Alex was performing anal sex on him. He is exploring his own gender and sexual identity within the confines of his parents' expectations, which contrasts with Alex's character who receives her parents' support about her situation. At the same time, Alex is questioning her own decisions about her identity and is confronted with frustration at her own body and the limitations placed on her by society. After her father walks in on the sexual experience between his daughter and Alvaro, he realizes his child is now old enough to make her own decision about her life and her sexual identity, and seeks advice from a transgender man that he had read about in newspapers years before. The man expresses his appreciation that Alex's parents chose not to make the decision for her at birth by "castrating" her, and allowed her to make her own decision now. Alex's father is comforted by this conversation and returns to Alex recognizing that she is older now and must make her own decision. Later in the movie, three boys from the village sexually assault Alex by forcibly pulling down her pants to see her genitals. Alex is embarrassed and ashamed by this encounter, perpetrated by the friends of Vando, her ex-friend and likely former romantic partner. Néstor realizes that reporting this to the police would cause the whole village to know about Alex's condition. However, Alex decides that it does not matter. Alex also decides that she does not want to resume taking medicines or have an operation. When asked by her father whether she wanted to choose to be either male or female, Alex replies "What if there is nothing to choose?". Throughout the film there are multiple acknowledgements of the audience's curiosity about Alex's genitals. This is seen through the actions of other characters on screen, most notably the group of boys who assault Alex while she is on the beach. At the end of the film, Álvaro and his family are getting ready to board the boat to take them back to Buenos Aires. There is still tension between them after their last encounter in the woods. Álvaro walks away from his family to go sit behind a sea wall on the beach with Alex for a few moments. He shows her that he has started wearing the turtle tag that she had given him previously. He asks if he will ever see her again, and she tells him that she does not think that he will. They each admit to having fallen in love with each other, but when Alvaro tries to kiss Alex she pushes him away. Scarred from her experience on the beach with the three boys, she asks him if he regrets not seeing her again or not getting to see "it" more. She pushes down her pants to show Álvaro her genitals, and the audience watches Álvaro as he looks at Alex. The camera lingers on Álvaro's face as he looks at Alex's genitals and the audience is made aware the state of Alex's genitals will not be made known to them. Álvaro's father grabs him and Alex sits against the wall for a few moments crying before she returns to her family. The ending shot is of Alex and her family leaving their guests at the boat and walking down the boardwalk. Alex grabs her father's hand and slings it across her shoulder before the camera pans to a shot of the ocean, focusing on the distant transitioning line between the sky and sea.


Cast

* Ricardo Darín as Néstor Kraken *
Valeria Bertuccelli Valeria Bertuccelli (born 1969, 30 November) is an Argentine film and television actress. Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín ...
as Suli Kraken * Inés Efron as Alex Kraken * Germán Palacios as Ramiro *
Martín Piroyansky Martín Piroyansky (born 3 March 1986) is an Argentine actor and film director. He has appeared in more than forty films since 1998. Selected filmography References External links * 1986 births Living people Argentine male film ac ...
as Álvaro * Carolina Peleritti as Erika * Guillermo Angelelli as Juan *
César Troncoso César Troncoso (born 5 April 1963) is a Uruguayan actor. He appeared in more than 30 films since 2002. Selected filmography Bibliography * References External links * 1963 births Living people Uruguayan male film actors { ...
as Washington *
Jean Pierre Reguerraz Jean-Pierre Reguerraz (1939 – November 2, 2007) was an Argentine stage and film actor noted for his deep bass voice. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1939 of French parents, he studied acting in Europe before returning to Argentina in 19 ...
as Esteban * Ailín Salas as Roberta * Luciano Martín Nóbile as Vando * Lucas Escariz as Saul


Reception

The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. The film-critics aggregate
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
reported 82% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The critical consensus is: "This sharp directorial debut by Lucia Puenzo treats the challenging subject of intersex with intelligence and sensitivity."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a standardized score out of 100, rated the film 67 based on 15 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film 3.5 stars of out 4. Ines Efron also received much critical acclaim for her performance in this film. Efron won the award for Best Actress at the
Cartagena Film Festival The Cartagena Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias), or FICCI, is a film festival held in Cartagena, Colombia, which focuses mainly on the promotion of Colombian television series, Latin American films and shor ...
as well as three other awards. She is also cited by Internet portal Ciudad.com.ar as "one of the most interesting arising actresses of
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
." She has been praised for depicting the character of Alex as a balanced combination of male and female, without leaning too far towards one or the other.


See also

*
Klinefelter syndrome Klinefelter syndrome (KS), also known as 47,XXY, is an aneuploid genetic condition where a male has an additional copy of the X chromosome. The primary features are infertility and small, poorly functioning testicles. Usually, symptoms are sub ...
*
Intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical b ...
*
Hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have ...


References


External links

* * * *
Information about XXY and Klinefelter Syndrome
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xxy 2007 films 2007 drama films Argentine drama films Argentine LGBT-related films Spanish drama films Spanish LGBT-related films French drama films French LGBT-related films 2000s Spanish-language films Films about intersex Films shot in Uruguay Films set in Uruguay Argentine independent films Spanish independent films French independent films LGBT-related drama films 2007 LGBT-related films 2007 independent films 2000s French films 2000s Argentine films