It's a Girl!

A woman pretends that her son is a girl.

This short definitely has a plot that attracts attention. A middle-aged woman (Lake) cares for her child (Masson), who is a young man and she treats him like he is a little girl. The film has a narrative that explores the routine that the two of them go through, the things they do together. Every morning, she brings breakfast to her offspring while he is still in bed. Then, he dresses in girl's clothing, a dress to be exact and also wears a woman's wig. The two of them then engage in a variety of activities that a mother and her little girl woul do, which include painting each other's nails, dancing and generally having light-hearted fun. Although this is a bizarre situation, the atmosphere feels joyful until it is revealed how this situation came to be.

The mother and her child are the center of this unusual story. The parent is cheerful, constantly smiling and playing with her 'little girl', yet she does have a bad side (which could be her true side). The youngster is equally cheerful, living in a room filled with dolls that he plays with and he also has a pet rabbit inside a cage. He seems to believe that he actually is a little girl and it is indicated that he never leaves the house. His mother appears to be controlling him, which is hinted by some sort of pill that she places on the muffins that she frequently offers him.

What themes are explored here? Mental health is an obvious one, as well as obsession and the desire to control others. To some degree, parenthood and family values are also present and so is cross-dressing.

A major element in this film is the music by Chroma-Fi. The score sounds like the kind that is produced by a music box and it is heard throughout the film. It highlights the joy between the woman and her child, while simultaneously it also brings a feeling of awkwardness to the scenes, indicating that there is something sinister behind all this.

This short is a drama about an unusual mother-and-child relationship and the screenplay also moves towards thriller territories. The performances by the two leads are convincing and the music plays a major part for the film to have an effect, however the major thing that makes this viewing memorable is the intriguing plot as watching a young man behaving like a little girl and his mother treating him as such is something that will most likely make people think 'what on earth is going on?'.