Gabriella Bene: Analysis of Ma vie en rose

Ma vie en rose is a Belgian film directed by Alain Berliner in 1997. The main characters of the film are Ludovic (played by Georges du Fresne), Ludovic's mother, Hanna (played by Michele Laroque), Ludovic's father, Pierre (played by Jean-Phillipe Ecoffey), and Ludovic's grandmother, Elizabeth (played by Helene Vincent). I initially really wanted to see this film because I had seen it advertised at the recently turned foreign/off-beat movie theater Lexington Green. My first visit to Lexington Green since it started to shy away from mainstream films was in the beginning of this past summer. The film I chose was Pan's Labyrinth. I went in not knowing much about the film, and was thoroughly impressed. Ever since then, I take notice of the films at the Lexington Green Movie theatre. When I heard Ma vie en rose was being shown at the University of Kentucky's French Film Club, I jumped at the chance to see it. Once again I was extremely pleased. It really evoked a lot of emotions in me, and it will definitely go down as one of my favorite films. This movie is about a seven year old boy named Ludovic who is having gender identity issues. He believes that he should have been born as a girl. Ludovic is very innocent, and doesn't realize his actions are abnormal, or culturally unacceptable. His first faux-pas is that he comes downstairs for a family party wearing his sister's dress and caked in makeup. This is the first real indications to Ludovic's family that he is different. While the family tries to play off such mishaps as Ludovic having a wild imagination, they realize that he isn't "normal." Ludovic's grandmother encourages the family to let Ludovic be himself, to let him wear skirts if he pleases. She feels that once he is ridiculed at school, that he will no longer was to dress as a girl. Their plan backfires. Ludovic is happy being himself, and even befriends his father's boss's son, Jerome. Jerome is similar to Ludovic, that he has an unusual attraction to Ludovic. Jerome's father realizes that his son is acting this way and feels Ludovic is to blame. Meanwhile, Ludovic's appearance at school and social events causes alarm with the other children's parents. They rally to have Ludovic kicked out of school, and Jerome's father, who is equally enraged, fires Pierre. The family turns on Ludovic and no longer supports him since they are forced to move. At first Ludovic is very depressed as his family pays him no attention and is very cruel to him. This is all until Ludovic meets a girl who acts like a boy. Her family and neighbors, contrary to Ludovic's, is very supportive of her. In the end of the film, Ludovic finds acceptance to be as he wants in his new neighborhood, as well as with his family. I did not have any previous knowledge of this film beforehand, but I felt the characters still portrayed their roles as I would have expected them to. First there is Ludovic, who is just as innocent as a little boy should be. He is unaware that being himself is unacceptable. Then there is Helene, his mother. She at first is patient with him and tries to find solutions to gently change Ludovic, such as take him to a psychiatrist, and have him participate in sports. However, as the situation gets more desperate, she becomes hot tempered and loses her cool easily, much as a typical distressed female out of options would. Pierre's role is also played much as a typical father would act in this hypothetical scenario. He feels that he himself is to blame; that he didn't give his son enough male influence. He of course doesn't support his son's non-stereotypical male behaviors. Lastly there is Elizabeth, who is wise with age and all knowing like a typical grandmother figure. She feels all this bickering and argument is over futile things, and knows that there is more to life than such frivolous details. Like the French film Amelie, Ma vie en rose was a great example of mise-en-scene, especially in the aspects of color. What really blew me away in Ma vie en rose was the attention to color given during the production of the film. You notice how systematically and carefully planned every placement of color was in the film. In particular, the hues of red, yellow, and blue were used. These three primary colors were used in the entirety of the film, although they varied in intensity and shades. For instance, a girl wearing a bright magenta colored dress would arrive at the party in a yellow car. As she then needed to make her way across the lawn to the excitement, the producer made sure there was something insignificant, but yellow, to compliment her dress in the next scene, such as a yellow daisy hanging from a streamer. Another example would be if a couple was dancing. One would have to be in yellow attire, while the other was in blue, with bright red decorations in the background. Colors in the film were used magnificently to portray emotions. During a scene involving the imaginations of the children, or a scene in which just children were used, the hues of the reds, blues, and yellows were much more intense and bold, indicating the carefree nature and happiness of the children. In contrast, scenes in which mostly adults were used, the hues of the main colors were much paler and dim, indicating the troubled, unhappy lives of the adults in the film. In every aspect I really enjoyed this film. The plot of the film was amazing, as well as made you think about current issues and stereotypes we have of others. On top of that, this film is wonderful as a great example of carefully orchestration production. I would recommend it to everyone.