XXY (18)

Fourteen-year-old Alex (Ines Efron), who was born a hermaphrodite, lives with her middle-class parents on the sea front up the road from a remote fishing hamlet in southern Argentina.

The father Kraken (Ricardo Darin), a long-haired marine biologist, is pitted here against square-jawed Ramiro (German Palacios), a top plastic surgeon, brought from Buenos Aires by the mother Suli (Valeria Bertucelli) to assess the options.

The imponderable situation sees Kraken interchangeably refer to Alex as "my son" and "my daughter," caught between his own strong inclination to leave things to nature and his wife's trust in medical science.

One-dimensional Ramiro, with his "have them off now" approach, precipitates conflict. He has, somewhat oddly, little regard for the finer psychological nuances of the complex situation.

Meanwhile, Alex and Ramiro's son Alvaro (Martin Piroyansky) fall for each other with the usual teenage tender dramatics in tow.

Rather unexpectedly, both mothers are little more than stage props. A bunch of local teenage thugs, attracted by the circulating rumours, attempt to rape Alex, bringing matters to a head.

Asked by the traumatised Alex if he had made a complaint to the police, Kraken leaves the decision to her, pointing out that it implies going public.

Single-mindedly, Alex decides in favour of prosecuting, thus liberating herself, her father and the viewers from further anguish.

MICHAL BONCZA