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Netflix creates resource website for those affected by content of 㽶ƵֱGirl㽶Ƶֱ

Viewers who click on the film on Netflix will first see a 㽶Ƶֱviewer discretion is advised㽶Ƶֱ card
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Victor Polster is shown in a scene from the film 㽶ƵֱGirl㽶Ƶֱ is shown in this undated handout photo. Netflix has put a warning card on the controversial Belgian film 㽶ƵֱGirl,㽶Ƶֱ which landed on the streaming service Friday in markets including Canada, and created a resource website for its viewers. Directed and co-written by Lukas Dhont, the Golden Globe-nominated drama has already screened at several film festivals and upset some film critics with the way it depicts a 15-year-old transgender girl pursing her dream of being a ballerina while preparing for sexual reassignment surgery. (Netflix photo)

Netflix has put a warning card on the controversial Belgian film 㽶ƵֱGirl,㽶Ƶֱ which landed on the streaming service Friday in markets including Canada, and created a resource website for its viewers.

Directed and co-written by Lukas Dhont, the Golden Globe-nominated drama has already screened at several film festivals and upset some critics with the way it depicts a 15-year-old transgender girl pursing her dream of being a ballerina while preparing for sexual reassignment surgery.

Viewers who click on the film on Netflix will first see a 㽶Ƶֱviewer discretion is advised㽶Ƶֱ card that says the 㽶Ƶֱfilm covers sensitive issues, and includes some sexual content, graphic nudity, and an act of self-harm.㽶Ƶֱ

The card also mentions www.girlmovie.info, which contains information about The Trevor Project, a 24-hour, toll-free confidential suicide hotline for LGBTQ youth in the U.S.

Also on the site is a link to TrevorSpace, an international community for young LGBTQ people, as well as the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD and a video featuring Dhont and Nora Monsecour, a trans female dancer from Belgium whose life inspired 㽶ƵֱGirl.㽶Ƶֱ

㽶ƵֱThe actions portrayed in this work of fiction are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted,㽶Ƶֱ says the site.

㽶ƵֱGenital mutilation, hormone overdose, and acting against trans-competent medical advice are life-threatening behaviours likely to make gender-affirming surgeries impossible. Safe options and transgender resources exist if you or a loved one wish to medically transition. If you are considering self-harm or suicide, support is available. You are not alone.㽶Ƶֱ

Netflix says it worked on the warning card and site with GLAAD and The Trevor Project and other LGBTQ-focused organizations.

The site is similar to the one the streaming service created for its teen drama series 㽶Ƶֱ13 Reasons Why,㽶Ƶֱ which tackles the subject of suicide.

Belgian actor Victor Polster stars as the protagonist in 㽶ƵֱGirl,㽶Ƶֱ who visits medical doctors and undergoes hormone therapy while training in the competitive world of dance. The film won several top awards at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Camera d㽶ƵֱOr award for best first feature film.

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Some film critics have expressed concern that the film is told from the perspective of a cisgender filmmaker with a cisgender actor playing the lead. They also take issue with the way the story was handled, noting it contains several graphic scenes focusing on the character㽶Ƶֱs genitalia and a harrowing part involving self-mutilation.

㽶ƵֱThe film has the potential to be very dangerous for a young trans person in any country who might stumble upon this and think that somehow that is a route to take to get the body that they㽶Ƶֱve always felt they should have had in the first place,㽶Ƶֱ Tre㽶Ƶֱvell Anderson, the Los Angeles-based director of culture and entertainment for Out magazine, said in a recent phone interview.

㽶ƵֱOne thing the film does is it contextualizes the trans experience as being one that is purely physical and one that is purely medical. It oversimplifies the experience of being trans and doesn㽶Ƶֱt take into account the psychological state of being that trans is as well.㽶Ƶֱ

Anderson, who identifies as gender non-conforming, noted many trans people worldwide are required to go through therapy and have medical professionals sign off on their mental state in order for gender confirmation surgery to take place.

㽶ƵֱBeing trans is about so much more than just our bodies, it㽶Ƶֱs about more than just our genitalia, and the film did not and does not represent that aspect of being trans,㽶Ƶֱ said Anderson, who saw the film at a screening in L.A.

Mathew Rodriguez, a staff writer at Into magazine in Los Angeles, said he was also upset with the emphasis on the physical aspects of the character, noting the self-harm scene made him 㽶Ƶֱangry.㽶Ƶֱ

㽶ƵֱI think that we don㽶Ƶֱt necessarily need to see violence against trans bodies in that gratuitous kind of voyeuristic way on camera right now. That㽶Ƶֱs not necessary, and especially written and directed by someone who has not had the trans experience, it feels exploitative,㽶Ƶֱ said Rodriguez, whose review of 㽶ƵֱGirl㽶Ƶֱ last October called the film 㽶Ƶֱanother example of trans trauma porn.㽶Ƶֱ

㽶ƵֱWhen someone talks about, 㽶ƵֱOh, this film wasn㽶Ƶֱt about trans, it was about adolescence㽶Ƶֱ 㽶Ƶֱ using a trans story to tell a story about adolescence that you want to resonate with or that you want to make universal, feels a little exploitative to me.㽶Ƶֱ

Dhont was unavailable for comment, Netflix said Thursday, but he recently told the British daily newspaper The Guardian that he consulted Monsecour on the film㽶Ƶֱs script and edits. He also said he and the film㽶Ƶֱs critics 㽶Ƶֱhave the same cause.㽶Ƶֱ

㽶ƵֱI don㽶Ƶֱt want to be against them, I want to be together and pushing forwards,㽶Ƶֱ Dhont said.

Rodriguez said he㽶Ƶֱd like to see more investment 㽶Ƶֱin amplifying trans narratives that are by trans people, directed by trans people, starring trans people, not cis people who are made to play trans parts.㽶Ƶֱ

㽶ƵֱEvery major role in this film, when you talk about lead actor, director, script writer 㽶Ƶֱ at every turn where trans people could have been involved they were not, and that㽶Ƶֱs the tragedy.㽶Ƶֱ

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

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