RECIT DE SOI
Courageous Narrative of Self Discovery
Recit de soi is an animated film about the life of a transgender man exploring and seeking identity through representations in reality. On the soccer field, he played for hours without a shirt on, while finding resonance with online articles by non-binary people. He hated wearing dresses for most of his life, wondering why he was repulsed by girls’ clothes until he found the term, “transgender,” online, which he identified with.
Desperate to make a transition, he looks up information on transitioning, which he wished to achieve dearly. For non-binary queer life, the protagonist made a deal to find out more about people who made a transition to physical manhood from being a woman. This liberated the protagonist who saw gender as fixed through the eyes of adults.
The film is by Geraldine Charpentier. Geraldine talks about wearing only three dresses her whole life, and being upset while wearing t-shirts in public. This complicated lifestyle made it hard for her to identify with other women in the street. Geraldine remembers looking at the word “transgender,” and thinking, “That’s me!” She was excited that there were cinematic representations of her experience because it brought validation to her life.
The animation is beautiful and oscillates between paint brush strokes and drawing cut outs. The details make the story inticiting and the charisma of the protagonist keeps you interested in the plot. The montage and mixing is done by Anna Faury and the music is done by Laura Sasso and Jeremie Congrega. Compact and told well, the story is moving and spans across multiple points in telling. Geraldine tells a strong story and moves us with her plight, ending up in a happier place then we begin with a holistic arc of storytelling done through the discovery of self in parts. Geraldine finds herself in parts and comes to a conclusion about himself over time. It’s exciting, engaging and a blast to watch on screen. We hope you enjoy, PROVOKRs.
