52 Tuesdays (MA)
Directed by Sophie Hyde
When her daughter Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) was 16 years old, Jane (Del Herbert-Jane) decided to pursue a long-standing desire to transition into a man called James. Jane’s ostensibly gay younger brother Harry shared the house but she decided to send Billie to her father’s place for the year it would take for the gender transition. In order to keep their relationship strong during this time, Jane and Billie decided to meet up every Tuesday afternoon. At a time when Billie was exploring her own sexuality in increasingly risky ways, the film is not only about the gender transition but how the teenage girl deals with her mother’s decision to go through a sex change.
Writer/director Sophie Hyde says she was influenced by Michael Apted’s ‘Seven Up’ series. She shot this remarkable film in her hometown of Adelaide for 52 consecutive Tuesdays, with the actors only receiving their scripts one week before. Although she deservedly won the best director award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival it is her lead actors, neither of whom had acted before, who make the film so authentic – particularly Del Herbert-Jane who does not identify with either gender and was originally the film team’s adviser on gender transition.
So much happens in a year and the film would have been a marathon effort for the actors as their characters search for their authentic selves. The snapshots obviously only tell part of their stories but accumulate into a powerful drama where everyone involved make a transition of some sort.
Don’t miss the opportunity to see the film and meet Sophie Hyde for a Q & A session at Cinema Paradiso, 6.30pm on Wednesday 30 April. Watch the trailer below.
Lezly Herbert
