XXY (2007)

XXY is a 2007 Argentine-Spanish-French drama film written and directed by Lucía Puenzo. Starring Ricardo Darín, Valeria Bertuccelli, Inés Efron, and Martín Piroyansky, the film tells the story of a 15-year-old intersex person, the way her family copes with her condition and the ultimate decision that she must eventually make as she finds her gender identity.

XXY received positive reviews from critics, winning the Critics' Week grand prize at the 2007 Cannes film festival, as well as the ACID/CCAS Support Award. It was nominated for eight awards at the 2008 Argentine Film Critics Association Awards, winning three of them including Best Film, and was nominated or won awards at a number of other foreign film festivals. It was chosen to close the 2008 Melbourne Queer Film Festival and had a short run theatrical release before being released onto DVD. The film also won the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film.

The title of the film has caused some controversy among members of the intersex community. At first sight, the film's title appears to be a reference to Klinefelter syndrome, also known as XXY syndrome, a condition in which males have an extra X sex chromosome. This would be highly misleading, as the character is referred to as being "intersex" and has female and male genitalia. Those affected with Klinefelter's syndrome often do not show highly-visible symptoms and are not aware of their condition, unless diagnosed later in life (usually due to infertility), which is incongruous to the condition portrayed in this film.

Synopsis

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.

Actors