Tomboy review

The girl-boy next door.

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Like a lighter, gentler Boys Don’t Cry for pre-teens, writer/ director Céline Sciamma’s second film tells of 10-year-old Laure (Zoé Héran), mistaken for a boy when she and her family move to a new apartment outside Paris.

For reasons of her own, Laure goes along with the error, reinventing herself as ‘Mikael’. But problems are looming: imminent registration at her new school, the occasional need to pee…

Sciamma’s debut, Water Lilies, centred on the crises of teenagers involved in their school’s synchronised swimming team.

With Tomboy, she’s shifted down-age a few years, but shows the same knack for drawing natural performances from her young actors. Even Malonn Lévanna, as Laure’s six-year-old sister, avoids all the usual bright-beyond-her-years clichés.

As Laure, Héran – onscreen virtually throughout – is convincing both as girl and as girl-being-boy. It’s a beautifully gauged study of a girl starting to explore her own sexuality and her reaction to gender roles, as well to the currents in her family life.

Her parents are warm but preoccupied, the mother pregnant (with a boy), the father working long hours. Sciamma never indulges in expository speeches, but there’s a world of meaning in Laure’s glance as Dad amiably ruffles her hair then indulges in cuddling and tickling games with little sis.

Similarly, the cat-out-of-the-bag moment, when it comes, isn’t overplayed: it’s painful (not least for Jeanne Disson’s Lisa, the girl who’s become attracted to ‘Mikael’) but Laure, we can see, is resilient enough to survive it. And praise be for no sententious ‘we’ve all learned something today’ scenes.

Latest in Animation Movies
Ne Zha 2
After dethroning The Force Awakens, the surprise animated hit taking the box office by storm could claim a record from James Cameron next
Flow
Flow won big as this year's Oscars underdog against Pixar and Netflix, and it's proof of the power of storytelling over dialogue
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
As the new Looney Tunes movie that Warner Bros passed on makes a strong start, one of its artists urges fans to "buy a ticket it and support it" saying "word of mouth and hype works"
Ne Zha 2
After 10 years, a new animated movie has beaten a box office record set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Shrek 5
Shrek 5: release date, plot, trailer, news, and more
The Iron Mask
The 32 greatest swashbuckler movies ever made
Latest in Reviews
Zombicide box featuring stylized art of survivors fighting zombies
Zombicide 2nd Edition review: "Like a zombie flick brought to tabletop"
Razer Handheld Dock with Steam Deck sitting on cradle, pink and yellow RGB lighting on, and Alienware monitor in background with Tomb Raider Trilogy gameplay on screen.
Razer Handheld Dock review: “Your Steam Deck will ride shiny and Chroma"
Photographs of the Agricola board game in play
Agricola review: "Accurate representation of the highly competitive and often unstable world of agriculture"
Photos taken by writer Rosalie Newcombe of the Shure MV7i microphone, within a pink and white themed room.
Shure MV7i review - convenience and excellence rolled into one superb sounding package
Key art for Atomfall showing a character in the English countryside looking at a nuclear plant some distance away
Atomfall review: "This isn't British Fallout – it's something much better than that"
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% gaming keyboard with purple RGB lighting on a desk setup
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% review: "a niche luxury"