Xxy

Directed by Lucia Puenzo and with a competent cast, XXY is not a film for a romantic night out. Powerful and disturbing, Puenzo cracks open some of the issues thrown at the parents of a hermaphrodite child rather than just concentrating on the child concerned. Engaging with the action moves the audience from being uncomfortable observers almost to participants who need to make a decision as some of the issues are presented and explored.

The action is played out on a harsh, out of the way stretch of the coast of Uruguay, a landscape which reflects the lives of the family concerned. They have retreated there from the interfering interest of family, friends and other well-meaning people in their native Buenos Aires. Separated now from their former life by the Rio de la Plata, they involve themselves in marine conservation / research as 15 year old Alex, now sexually on the boil, heads towards adulthood, with serious decisions looming on the horizon, but who should make them?

Alex's situation becomes public knowledge, leading to inevitable cruelty and suffering. She (for that's how she has been allowed to develop to this point) is sexually at odds with herself and stops the medication that suppresses the masculinity within her make-up, and there is growing pressure to consider surgical intervention in spite of the laissez-faire attitude her parents have adopted until now, particularly her father.

The main issue revolves around the decision whether to intervene. Should the parents, medical expertise or society in general make a decision in the early days, weeks, months of a hermaphrodite's life regarding their gender, or should that decision be deferred until the person is old enough to make up their own mind? Should any action ever be taken, medical, surgical or psychological, or should the person be allowed to go into free-fall and find their place as a double-gendered person in a world of two strong camps into which they do not fit? Why should a hermaphrodite be forced to chose? By extension, why should anyone, no matter what their “disability”, have to be forced into the mould of their neighbours to gain acceptance?

The film, although harsh, is sensitive, though none of the characters is particular attractive. Each of the options available to the parents is distasteful, but there is the hint of the possibility of true acceptance and love, but only a hint. After all, what parent would be happy with their son falling for a girl with a penis?