A pre-pubescent "Boys Don't Cry" with a much sweeter tone, this thoughtful French comic drama follows Laure (Zoé Héran), a 10-year-old girl who yearns to be a boy.
Tomboy
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France · 2011
1h 22m
Director Céline Sciamma
Starring Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, Sophie Cattani
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Laure and her family have recently moved to a new neighborhood. One day, she meets Lisa, who assumes Laure to be a boy. Frozen, Laure accepts this new identity, calling herself Mikäel. But when Laure's secret begins to leak out, her friendship with Lisa, along with her social status, are put to the test.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
A tender, sensitive French drama rich in hazy atmosphere.
Tomboy may add little to conversations about gender or sexuality. It has everything to say, however, about that period of childhood when identity is at its most malleable.
Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene
Tomboy is one of those little big films whose simplicity and concision suggest the excess of meaning that language (cinematic or otherwise) could never account for.
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Its young heroine is proud to be herself; there's just not much for her to do beyond that.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
The startling power of Tomboy, a beautiful, matter-of-fact French drama about a young girl who wants to be a boy - and for one singular summer around her 10th birthday passes as one - begins with the one-of-a-kind natural performance by Zoé Héran as Laure.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
The story that emerges is programmatic and largely unsurprising, but these children give it messiness, joy and life.
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
Tomboy astutely explores the freedom, however brief, of being untethered to the highly rule-bound world of gender codes.
It's so much fun that as Tomboy moves toward its conclusion, the inevitable end of Héran's days as Mikael feels like watching someone die.
Users who liked this film also liked
Tout Va Bien
(Tout va bien)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1972
- Director Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin
- Cast Yves Montand, Jane Fonda, Vittorio Caprioli, Elizabeth Chauvin, Castel Casti, Éric Chartier
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Water Lilies
(Naissance des pieuvres)
Marie joins the local pool’s synchronized swim team for a chance to get close to Floriane—the “bad girl” of the team.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2007
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Pauline Acquart, Adèle Haenel, Louise Blachère, Warren Jacquin, Christel Baras, Marie Gili-Pierre
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel
The Children of Huang Shi
(黃石的孩子)
War made them orphans, one man made them legends
- ✭ ✭
- Australia, China, Germany • 2008
- Director Roger Spottiswoode
- Cast Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Matthew Walker, Anastasia Kolpakova
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Venus Beauty Institute
(Vénus beauté (institut))
Welcome to the Venus Beauty Institute where love, innocence and sex are a sight to behold.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1999
- Director Tonie Marshall
- Cast Nathalie Baye, Bulle Ogier, Audrey Tautou, Mathilde Seigner, Samuel Le Bihan, Jacques Bonnaffé
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Barefoot Contessa
A washed up director travels to Madrid and persuades a beautiful dancer to star in his next movie.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, United States • 1954
- Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Cast Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Marius Goring, Valentina Cortese, Rossano Brazzi
- Genre Drama
- Available on MGM Plus, fuboTV, Epix Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Pluto TV, Hoopla
I'm All Right Jack
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1959
- Director John Boulting
- Cast Peter Sellers, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price, Margaret Rutherford
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Loup
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2009
- Director Nicolas Vanier
- Cast Nicolas Brioudes, Pom Klementieff, Min Man Ma, Vantha Talisman, Bernard Wong, Gurgon Kyap
- Genre Drama, Adventure
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Jitters
(Órói)
Life is happening right here, right now.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iceland • 2010
- Director Baldvin Z
- Cast Atli Óskar Fjalarsson, Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Birna Rún Eiríksdóttir, Lilja Guðrún Þorvaldsdóttir, Elías Helgi Kofoed-Hansen, Haraldur Ari Stefánsson
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video
The We and the I
The funny, heartfelt story of the final bus ride home for a group of young high school students and graduates.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States, France • 2012
- Director Michel Gondry
- Cast Michael Brodie, Laidychen Carrasco, Raymond Delgado
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hoopla
Girlhood
(Bande de filles)
A girl with few real prospects joins a gang, reinventing herself and gaining a sense of self confidence in the process.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2014
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh, Mariétou Touré, Idrissa Diabaté, Rabah Nait Oufella
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Metrograph, Strand Releasing Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Pauline
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2010
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Anaïs Demoustier, Adèle Haenel
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Suddenly Seventeen
(28岁未成年)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- China • 2015
- Director Mo Zhang
- Cast Ni Ni, Wallace Huo, Darren Wang, Liu Bing, Pan Binlong, Yu Xintian
- Genre Comedy, Romance, Fantasy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Poisoning Angel
(Fleur de Tonnerre)
- ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2017
- Director Stéphanie Pillonca
- Cast Déborah François, Benjamin Biolay, Jonathan Zaccaï, Catherine Mouchet
- Genre Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Video, Tubi TV
The Staggering Girl
Created in partnership with Italian fashion house Valentino, The Staggering Girl uses the language of couture to tell the story of writer Francesca.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2019
- Director Luca Guadagnino
- Cast Julianne Moore, Kyle MacLachlan, Marthe Keller, Mia Goth, KiKi Layne, Alba Rohrwacher
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Sole
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Poland • 2019
- Director Carlo Sironi
- Cast Sandra Drzymalska, Claudio Segaluscio, Bruno Buzzi, Barbara Ronchi, Vitaliano Trevisan, Marco Felli
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Petite Maman
(Petite maman)
A young girl ventures into the woods around her grandmother's house and forms a friendship with a lonely local girl.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2021
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal
- Genre Drama, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Kanopy