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XXY

Bold and challenging tale of a 15-year-old hermaphrodite

By GERALD PEARY | May 14, 2008

3.0 Stars

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XXY

First-time Argentine filmmaker Lucia Puenzo makes a confident debut with a narrative that’s both bold and challenging. Fifteen-year-old Alex (Inés Efron) has grown up as a girl, but she’s actually a hermaphrodite, with breasts and a penis, and with a budding but guilty erotic interest in both sexes. Living with her parents in exile in a Uruguayan fishing village. Alex is filled with self-loathing and confusion. Should she stay as she is, braving it out, or should she agree to an operation that would make her “normal?” Puenzo goes beyond medical melodrama with a talented ensemble of Argentine actors who make this weird tale breathe. 86 minutes | Spanish | MFA May 21-31

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