Movie · 2005 · Drama, Comedy · 2h 8m · R · English
Curator score: 2.5/10 (26.5K ratings)
Same world. Different planet.
Overview
In the 1970s, a young transgender woman called “Kitten” leaves her small Irish town for London in search of love, acceptance, and her long-lost mother.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.5/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 58%
Metacritic: 59
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Neil Jordan
Production
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Number 9 Films, Parallel Film Productions, Pathe
Cast
Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Eva Birthistle, Ruth Negga, Laurence Kinlan, Bryan Ferry, Ruth McCabe, Morgan Jones, Mary Coughlan, Conor McEvoy, Charlene McKenna, Seamus Reilly, Peter Owens, Emmet Lawlor McHugh, Bianca O'Connor, Paraic Breathnach, Pat McCabe, Owen Roe
Curator Review
Verdict
A tender, whimsical road movie about gender, longing, and chosen identity, with enough melancholy and comic buoyancy to keep it from feeling like pure misery. It’s especially rewarding if you like character-driven dramas that lean fairy-tale rather than realist.
Best for
viewers interested in trans stories and queer coming-of-age films
fans of bittersweet, offbeat British and Irish dramedies
people who like emotionally generous, performance-led films
audiences open to stylized, episodic storytelling
Skip if
you want a strictly realistic or hard-hitting social drama
you’re uncomfortable with older-era trans representation and casting choices
you prefer tightly plotted films over meandering character journeys
you want a consistently light comedy
Overview
Neil Jordan frames Kitten’s journey with a soft, storybook sensibility that makes the film feel both playful and bruised. It moves through 1970s Ireland and London as a series of encounters, each one revealing a little more about Kitten’s resilience, loneliness, and stubborn hope for love and belonging.
Worth noting
The film’s biggest strength is its emotional warmth. Even when it touches on rejection, violence, or grief, it keeps returning to Kitten’s wit and self-invention, which gives the story a surprising sweetness. The supporting cast adds texture and humor, and the period detail helps the film feel like a memory told with affection rather than a lecture.
Bottom line
It’s also a film that invites some mixed feelings in hindsight, especially around representation, but as a piece of early-2000s queer cinema it remains distinctive and moving. If you’re drawn to oddball, compassionate character studies with a slightly magical tone, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Kim (3.5★) · 5647 likes
I’m convinced Ireland has only 7 actors and they toss a coin to see who’s the lead and who’s gonna be supporting
Will Steele (4.5★) · 3806 likes
Now I am become slay, the server of cunt.
gwen (3.5★) · 2449 likes
cillian murphy’s waist
elizard (5★) · 1861 likes
Should actual trans people represent trans characters? Yes
Did cillian do an amazing job?? Yeah
Did this film make me feel better about myself?? Yes sir
Is it now one of my favorite films of all time? Absolutely
amaya (4★) · 1522 likes
cillian murphy going from this to peaky blinders.. the range