Different for Girls
Paul reunites with his schoolmate Kim, and finds out she's actually a woman who has transitioned since they last met. She has no desire to stir up the past and they start to fall in love, but Paul's immaturity gets them in trouble.
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- Cast:
- Rupert Graves , Steven Mackintosh , Miriam Margolyes , Charlotte Coleman , Saskia Reeves , Nisha Nayar , Neil Dudgeon
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Reviews
Sick Product of a Sick System
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Paul Prentice (Rupert Graves) is a blokey guy. Kim (Steven Mackintosh) is a conservative woman. If that wasn't enough to complicate a romance, Kim used to be Karl, Prentice's schoolfriend.The premise could have been used to make a serious drama but refreshingly it becomes a light-hearted quirky rom-com, which isn't afraid to deal with the complications of being transsexual. A previous reviewer quoted the dialogue about Prentice and Kim both being straight. The way the film deals with the subject shows that this is a normal relationship and whatever Kim was in the past does not matter. The uncertainty of both characters is touching and both actors pull off challenging roles.Although when Kim strips naked, Mackintosh looks too masculine to be entirely believable, it shows that you don't need to have a perfect body. It's all about the love.Yes, perhaps this could have made a good drama- the police corruption adds that dramatic element- but the endearing clumsiness of the rom-com coupled with a 'taboo' topic really makes you think about what gender really means. It's a short film too, so worth a watch.
It is not very offen that you see a film and you know that it is one you want to see over and over again and then you want to have the DVD, its story is so easy to follow but there is something that the actor have put into it that makes you watch. I could see this being a play very easy but the film is one were you can sit down with friends on your own and if you are old enough ( I am )you will know the music the places and the dancing this is a film for the girls for the boys and both together the bike training on the open ground with Kim at the front is great still as fresh now as it was in 1996 when it came out ...
Unconventional shoestring projects that would never otherwise see the light of day, transcend their own inherent rubbishness of execution when actors of the calibre of Steven Mackintosh ("Our Mutual Friend") and Rupert Graves ("The Tenant of Wildfell Hall") are involved. "Different for Girls" won't please lovers of the normal, middle of the road, but anyone who has any time at all for something a bit different, will surely enjoy this.Karl and Paul were friends at school: good enough friends that the adult Paul restless punk spirit crashing against the bars of his cage - recognises Karl instantly when confronted with him at the scene of a traffic accident; even though Karl appears to have become Kim. But and it's Graves' skill that you understand this straightaway he's not put off, or scornful; he's intrigued.Kim, formerly Karl, is resolutely living the most dowdy, normal life she can dream up as a newly post-op woman. With her drab clothes from M&S, her demeanour of invisibility and her steady job, she just wants to fit in. Her quiet dignity transcends her still-masculine appearance; Mackintosh's Kim really believes she was always meant to be a woman, and she's been on a hard and lonely journey to reach her present delicate equilibrium. The last thing she thinks she needs is Paul's ramshackle life rudely trespassing on hers.Their mutual attraction, and awkward, stumbling progress in their evolving relationship, are explored with great depth of feeling by both actors. For all his bravado, Kim is much braver than Paul. The scene where they dance in Paul's bedroom is heartbreakingly truthful. The film isn't even diminished by its slightly hurried, TV-drama ending. (I'm completely bypassing the film's pointless suburban subplot Saskia Reeves, oh dear.) I love the film's punky spirit, and its very human conclusions about love: that no matter how hard you try to live safe, life can be chaotic; that a decision that may shock society around you, may be worth the heartache or chaos for the good it can do two human beings. A good, oddball romantic comedy, give it a try.
.SPOILER!!!! I saw the movie for the first time last night, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The performances by the two lead characters were not only believable, but touching as well.The most enjoyable aspect of the movie (and what could easily be missed if you miss the shower scene at the very beginning of it) is the twist in the story at the very end. In the shower scene, we see a young Prentice coming to the defence of and comforting a schoolmate after being picked on by a group of bullies/students for being queer. The assumption is made that the boy Prentice "rescues" is Kim/Karl. However, we only realize near the end of the movie when Kim/Karl's before and after photos are published by the newspaper that he was actually NOT the rescued boy, but one of the bullies instead.All in all, the movie is a really good watch, and I would definitely see it again....