Film 10 October Ma vie en Rose (1998, Alain Berliner) When seven-year-old Ludovic (Du Fresne) shows a penchant for lipstick and skirts, he unwittingly uncorks a gush of suburban prejudice. It's not that he wants to be a pint-sized transvestite, or even that he's gay, but rather an utter conviction that he should be a girl. His parents (well played by Laroque and Ecoffey) can't understand it or cope with the social stigma that's blackening their name in the tight-arsed, tight-knit community. Crippled by a mixture of liberalism, love and deep embarrassment, they end up in a comic stand-off with their son. Seasoned with spicy humour, the film never preaches. Instead, through Du Fresne's remarkable performance, it deals with a child's innocent exploration of identity and an adult perception that is tainted by sexual insecurity.
Reading Group
Set in Dublin and its near surrounds AT SWIM, TWO BOYS follows the turbulent year to Easter 1916. At its core it tells the love of two boys, Jim, a naïve and reticent scholar, the younger son of foolish, aspirant shopkeeper Mr. Mack, and Doyler, the dark rough diamond son of Mr. Mack’s old army pal.
Out at the Forty Foot, that great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the scandalous nude, the two boys meet day after day. There they make a pact: that Dyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, they will swim the bay to the distant beacon of the Muglins rock, to raise the Green and claim it for themselves. As Ireland sets forth towards her uncertain glory there unfolds a love storyof the utmost tenderness, carrying the reader through the turbulence of the times like a full blown sail.
AT SWIM, TWO BOYS is written with great verve and mastery. It shares those elements that are the marks of all great books – the breadth of its canvas, the skill of its brush, the intensity of its subjects and, above all, the shining light of its humanity
Venue: Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland, 34 Waterloo Place, Inverness IV1 1NB
Tel: 01463 711 585
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