XXY (film)

Plot

Alex Kraken is a 15-year-old Intersex person, with both male and female genitals, who has been living as a girl and using medicines to suppress masculine features, such as a beard, and to attempt to have more feminine features. However, recently Alex has stopped taking her medication.

Alex's parents moved with her from Argentina to a village by the sea in Uruguay, to avoid the city society's discriminatory views. Her father, Néstor Kraken, is a marine biologist who has written a book on sexuality and makes a living treating wounded animals found by fishermen. Her mother, Suli, invites friends from Argentina: a surgeon, his wife and teenage son Álvaro. The purpose, unknown to Néstor and Alex, is to discuss the possibilities of sex reassignment surgery, of which Suli hopes Alex will be female as per her wishes to her birth.

Alex directly tells Álvaro that she would like to have sex with him. Alex seduces Álvaro and begins to have anal intercourse with him (with her as the penetrative partner). Álvaro is surprised, but does not stop Alex; however Nestor catches sight of them through the door and Alvaro rushes out feeling conflicted and still in a panic at the unexpected reversal in sexual roles. When Alex later apologizes, Álvaro reveals that he liked it.

Later, three curious boys from the village sexually assault Alex by forcibly pulling down her pants to see her genitals. Néstor realizes that reporting this to the police would cause the whole village to know about Alex's condition. However, Alex decides that it does not matter. Alex also decides that she does not want to resume taking medicines or have an operation. She says, "What if there is nothing to choose?"

Cast

Themes

Alex keeps aquariums full of clownfish. Clownfish are protandrous hermaphrodites: all individuals are initially male, and may later become female. This example of a hermaphroditic organism in nature is repeated throughout the film.

The sea animal motif recurs in the family name Kraken, which is also the name of a mythical sea monster.

Reception

The film was well-received by critics, earning a generally favorable assessment. Rotten Tomatoes, the film critic aggregator, indicates that 82% of critics offered positive reviews out of 44 critiques, culminating in an average rating of 6.8/10. The critical consensus is: "This sharp directorial debut by Lucia Puenzo treats the challenging subject of intersex with intelligence and sensitivity." Metacritic, which assigns a standardized score out of 100, rated the film 67 based on 15 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews." Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars of out 4.