This "Little Girl", born in a boy's body, will upset you on Arte

We cry a lot in front of this film, but “Little Girl” is an uplifting, luminous and loving documentary.

For a year, director Sébastien Lifshitz, who signed the recent “Adolescentes”, followed Sasha, an 8-year-old child born into a boy's body, but who feels like a girl.

He filmed her at home or during her appointments with a child psychiatrist at length, and recounts her struggle and that of her parents to be considered a girl.

In front of her camera, Karine, Sasha's mother, first tells how she "understood".

Faced with this child who announced to her at the age of 4 "when I grow up, I'll be a girl" and who "hates his penis", Karine believed in a "passing".

Then she saw the suffering of Sasha, who could never have the schoolbag, the pencil case, the outfits she wanted… And her sudden happiness when she was allowed, at home, to "be herself", it was that is, to wear skirts and ballerinas and to talk about her in a feminine way.

"He's my child, period"

In "Little Girl", already available on Arte.tv before a broadcast on Wednesday 2 December on Arte, the TV channel, Karine tells about her feeling of guilt, she who wanted a girl when she was pregnant and who gave Sasha a mixed first name … She speaks especially of her sadness to see Sasha "deprived of a normal childhood", by school in particular, which refuses to accept her as a girl.

The unconditional love of this mother is overwhelming, like the words of this father, who sums everything up in a few words: “It's my child, period.

"

With this film, Sébastien Lifshitz, who in 2013 signed a documentary on Bambi, one of the first French transsexuals, wanted to “tell the story of transidentity in childhood”.

It was through a forum of parents confronted with their child's “gender dysphoria” that he met Karine.

"These parents are destitute, traditional medicine is incompetent in the face of gender identity disorders and no institution helps them," says the filmmaker, whose documentary denounces in particular the attitude of the school director or a teacher of dance.

"There is a part of cruelty and stupidity in the behavior of certain adults, who allow themselves to judge out of ignorance", estimates Sébastien Lifshitz.

If Sasha and her family agreed to be filmed, it is precisely to raise awareness of gender dysphoria: "This documentary was an extension of the fight they were leading", explains the director.

Who says he admires the "determination" of Sasha, "a wonderful little girl, now schooled as a girl in CM2".

The documentary trailer

EDITOR'S RATING: 4.5 / 5

“Petite Fille”

, unpublished French documentary by Sébastien Lifshitz (1h23).

Available on Arte.tv.

Broadcast on Arte on December 2nd.