A promising teenage dancer enrolls at a prestigious ballet school while grappling with her gender dysphoria.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.1/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 44%
Metacritic: 73
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Lukas Dhont
Production
Frakas Productions, Topkapi Films, Menuet
Cast
Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter, Oliver Bodart, Tijmen Govaerts, Katelijne Damen, Valentijn Dhaenens, Magali Elali, Alice de Broqueville, Alain Honorez, Chris Thys, Angelo Tijssens, Marie-Louise Wilderijckx, Virginia Hendricksen, Daniel Nicodème, Els Olaerts, Hélène Theunissen, Alexia Depicker, Steve Driesen, Ingrid Heiderscheidt, Anthime Breyne
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A formally polished, emotionally intense coming-of-age drama with a strong central performance and real sensitivity around family support and bodily anxiety. But its perspective and imagery have been widely criticized as reductive and voyeuristic, so it lands better for viewers seeking a difficult, conversation-starting drama than for those wanting trans storytelling from an affirming, community-centered point of view.
Best for
viewers interested in austere European social drama
audiences drawn to dance-school pressure-cooker stories
people who want a serious, discussion-sparking film about gender dysphoria and family support
fans of restrained, observational filmmaking
Skip if
you want trans stories made primarily with trans-authored perspective
you are sensitive to body-focused or distressing medical imagery
you prefer hopeful, expansive, or affirming queer dramas
you dislike bleak, emotionally punishing coming-of-age films
Overview
Girl is a controlled, carefully observed drama about a teenager trying to hold together two identities at once: the discipline of ballet and the urgency of transition. The film’s strongest material comes from its physical specificity, the daily rituals of training, and the quiet presence of family support around a young person under extreme pressure.
Worth noting
At the same time, the film has become a lightning rod for good reason. Its approach can feel clinical and punishing, with an emphasis on suffering that many viewers read as voyeuristic rather than illuminating. That tension shapes the whole experience: it is often impressive as craft, but uncomfortable as representation.
Bottom line
If you respond to severe, intimate character studies and want a film that invites debate as much as empathy, it may hold your attention. If you are looking for trans cinema that feels expansive, self-defined, or emotionally restorative, this is likely to frustrate more than it satisfies.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Josh Lewis (1★) · 627 likes
The kind of movie that mistakes leering and gawking and cynical shocks for sympathy. Listen to trans critics.
Laurence Barber (1★) · 569 likes
The more I think about this the more I detest it. Do we really need films about trans people in 2018 which constitute pure misery and self-hatred? This movie isn't interested in shining a light on what trans teens struggle with, it just wants to beat its trans character into the ground so cis people who've never met or spoken to a trans person, never really taken an interest in what it's like to be trans beyond the plot outline… more The more I think about this the more I detest it. Do we really need films about trans people in 2018 which constitute pure misery and self-hatred? This movie isn't interested in shining a light on what trans teens struggle with, it just wants to beat its trans character into the ground so cis people who've never met or spoken to a trans person, never really taken an interest in what it's like to be trans beyond the plot outline… more
lucas (3.5★) · 396 likes
men are trash but her father certainly wasn’t! dad of the year
Maëva · 328 likes
i want a movie where a trans woman chases ghosts, i want one where a trans woman is a private detective, i want a movie where a middle-aged trans woman finds love, i want a movie with a mean trans woman, i want a trans woman with superpowers, not this shit.
davidehrlich (3.5★) · 282 likes
Cisgender audiences are confronted by an inescapable irony as they watch “Girl,” the arrestingly empathetic debut from Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont. Few narrative dramas (if any) have more sensitively explored the nuances of growing up transgender, the bravery required to transition, and the struggle for self-acceptance that can motivate or define that process. Likewise, few narrative dramas (if any) have more palpably distilled the pain of being deadnamed, the humiliation of being reduced to your body, and the cruelty of… more Cisgender audiences are confronted by an inescapable irony as they watch “Girl,” the arrestingly empathetic debut from Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont. Few narrative dramas (if any) have more sensitively explored the nuances of growing up transgender, the bravery required to transition, and the struggle for self-acceptance that can motivate or define that process. Likewise, few narrative dramas (if any) have more palpably distilled the pain of being deadnamed, the humiliation of being reduced to your body, and the cruelty of… more
A body-centered character study where physical discipline and self-worth are inseparable.
Topics
transgender drama, coming-of-age, ballet, European cinema, psychological realism, family dynamics, body horror-adjacent, identity crisis, austere tone, 2010s drama