By Omeleto
.
.
Offered since 2010, MyFrenchFilmFestival showcases the breathtaking diversity and quality of contemporary French cinema. Omeleto is proud to partner with UniFrance to highlight short film selections from the collection, which range from charming children’s animations to gritty psychodramas to quietly resonant family narratives. No matter what the genre, this group of shorts highlights the creative risk-taking and emotional depth that makes French cinematic art uniquely vibrant.
Daniel’s mother calls her son in desperation, anxious to get news about his father, who has dropped out of their lives for some time. Then the father finally shows up at Daniel’s place — on the day before his sex-change operation so he becomes Lisa, the woman his dad has identified as for some time now.
The two spend some time together, first at their old job going back to their old roles for an evening’s work, and then getting drinks at a bar. But Daniel, tired of keeping secrets between his parents, must force his dad to tell the truth to Daniel’s mother, just as their family is on the verge of a transformation that will change them forever.
At heart, this dramatic short — directed by Maxime Roy with a script he co-wrote with lead actor Gall Gaspard — is a story about family, love, loyalty and secrets. Told with extraordinary sensitivity and tenderness, its rich, complex narrative arc covers how the circumstances and configurations of a family unit may shift and have unexpected emotional ripple effects in ways that no one can predict.
Though it is the father who is changing gender identities, the writing takes on the perspective of the child, who has now grown to adulthood. The narrative’s action traces the shift in this relationship, threading together quiet, often delicate moments between the father and son as they rediscover a rapport and ease between them.
But Daniel finds the burden of keeping one parent’s secret from another to be too much to bear and makes clear what a difficult position it is for a child, no matter what age they are. Actor Gall Gaspard portrays the difficulty in carrying this weight, as well as the love underneath all the emotions. Gaspard’s father, Jackie Ewing, offers a moving performance as Daniel’s dad, capturing both the freedom in embracing one’s authentic identity but the eternal way a parent shepherds and cares for their child, even when they think they’ve outgrown it.
But even with an apparent love and affection, Daniel reaches his breaking point. This schism isn’t about his father’s imminent change, but the fact that holding secrets between his parents is an unfair burden to place on a child who loves them both. Daniel pushes Dad to tell his mother the truth, which also makes all of them confront the grief at what they’re losing — a prospect that’s heartrending and enormous for both Daniel and his parent.
“Sole Mio” handles this final turn in the narrative with grace and compassion, respecting both the search to live one’s truth while acknowledging the poignancy of what’s lost. Based loosely on Gaspard’s own experiences, the film’s intimate emotional precision likely emerges from this authenticity and makes the film both heartfelt in execution and heartbreaking at the story’s extraordinarily moving end. The final moments of “Sole Mio” feature very little dialogue, but through the performances and raw emotion, the sentiments expressed are enormous and almost too overwhelming for words to carry.
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want a deeper connection with our community, please join us as a Premium Member today.
Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Screenshot from video
