Lindy is 16, has a boyfriend, and really wants to sleep with him. So far so good, until she learns from a doctor that she has a particular syndrome, was born without a uterus and has an atrophied vagina as a bonus. His life is falling apart.
The film begins with the feel of a typical teenage movie, like coming of age : a too-beautiful girl with too-perfect hair on one side, and her equally more-than-perfect boyfriend on the other. Déjà vu, well chewed, we believe at first, wrongly. Because we have everything wrong here.
It’s that the feature film by Molly McGlynn (Mary Goes Round), despite desperately classic premises, actually dares to foray into a new subject: MRKH syndrome. Basically, Lindy will never menstruate, will never be able to bear children, and, for the matter at hand here, if she wants to have penetrative sex, will also have to manually dilate her vagina. Forgive us for being so blunt, but that’s what the film is about, after all. A film which never falls into vulgarity, which is not the least of its qualities.
You have to hear the doctor announce his verdict. In fact, we barely hear him, since his voice becomes garbled, like all the medical gibberish that will follow. In this sense, we literally live with this Lindy (very convincing Maddie Ziegler) the shock of the diagnosis, her laborious exercises (visually associated with all the construction operations, ouch), violent music included. It hurts. And we have pain with her.
Where things go wrong is when Lindy meets a non-binary and intersex person, in whom she finally dares to confide. It is difficult to believe in this chemistry which links the two characters, even if the idea of adding a touch of benevolent diversity is well received. So, if the exchanges between the mother (clumsy but touching Emily Hampshire) and the daughter ring very true, the dialogues in favor of diversity and inclusion seem far too flat here. As if the film was waltzing between Sex Education (and the similarities in rhythm and visual style are striking) and an educational guide, let’s say.
That being said, we get caught up in the game, because the character of Lindy, inspired by the director’s life, remains convincing: from her desire to conform at all costs to her assertion (a tad hasty), we can’t help but smile again when remembering the final, a real rant well sent. Honeyed, sure, but tasty.
Indoors
Drama
Fitting In (V.F.: My life my rules)
Molly McGlynn
Starring Maddie Ziegler, Emily Hampshire, Djouliet Amara, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai
1:45 a.m.