Critics reviews

Lucia Puenzo’s “XXY” is the first film that I’ve seen on [its] subject that is honest and sensitive — indeed, the only one. It is not a message picture, never lectures, contains partial nudity but avoids explicit images and grows into a poignant human drama.

[Inés Efron] gives a terrifically subtle performance: at times coy, at others confrontational, sometimes downright sexually aggressive. Puenzo's real achievement, however, is to make her film less about Alex's gender than about families and unspoken anxieties. Unexpected and wonderfully thoughtful.

Puenzo’s portrait of sex/gender definition is suitably prickly and non-judgmental even though, at times, the story seems incapable of truly getting underneath Alex’s skin, remaining an external observer to her inner tumultuousness.

That XXY explores the issue [of intersexualitycarefully from the emotional viewpoint, without being exploitative makes it all the more remarkable when you consider that this is Lucía Puenzo’s directorial debut... [She] proves an able director, her muted blue colour palette is well-chosen to mirror the emotions and her frequent long shots of the waves and beach create a compelling atmosphere.

XXY, with the right balance of subtlety and explicitness, is certainly difficult to watch, but is as rewarding, intriguing and eye-opening a film as anyone could hope for. It undoubtedly deserves its Cannes International Critics Week Grand Prize.

Refusing to sensationalise [her film's] subject... [Puenzo] creates a thoughtful, well-measured reflection on sexuality, identity and the struggle to follow the heart's desire... A little on the slow side, XXY remains absorbing because it never loses sight of the humanity in this story and never resorts to cheap sentimentality.

[The film's] sensitive treatment of an equally sensitive theme elevates [XXY] into something memorable... [Puenzo's] accomplishment matches [her debut feature's] ambition.