“Once upon a time I had a Mum who told me everything,” says 16-year old Billie to camera in the opening scene of 52 Tuesdays.
In this award-winning Australian film, Billie goes on to share the story of a year in her life when her Mum asked her to move out of home, as she undergoes a gender transition to become a man. While Billie gives her the emotional and physical space to do this, she meets her Mum every Tuesday evening. These are also the only scenes shared with the audience. A lot can happen in a year, and while Jane is becoming James, her daughter Billie undergoes her own transition.
With little choice, but not much fuss, Billie moves in with her Dad, Tom (Beau Travis Williams). Every Tuesday we join Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) and her Mum (Del Herbert-Jane) as they adjust to the changes they're experiencing within themselves and their relationship. Signalled by the date and a relevant news image, most weeks seem to be the monotony of everyday life; eating tea together, watching TV, and punctuated by bursts of Billie's unconventional Uncle Harry (Mario Späte). The beauty of the storytelling is that in these scenes, that are sometimes only five seconds long, we gain a world of insight into how Billie is coping with her Mum's revelation, with all its complex implications.
The everyday gets a shake up when Billie makes friends with Jasmine (Imogen Archer) and Josh (Sam Althuizen) who support her to explore her own sexuality and how she is affected by her family. This is a sophisticated portrayal of a polyamorous relationship, rarely seen on screen. Jasmine and Josh allow Billie to escape from what's happening at home and get into her own kind of trouble. Billie is forced to confide in her Uncle Harry as her parents struggle to provide to attention she needs.
It is astounding that the cast in Sophie Hyde's debut is almost entirely non-professional actors, who were given their scripts in similarly divided segments. All the performances are strong and they inhabit their characters, as they get to know them over the course of the year. In the real-time style of Boyhood, 52 Tuesdays was actually shot on Tuesdays over the course of a year; the cast and crew never missed a week.
To explore the personal turmoil of gender transition in film is still fairly uncharted territory, women becoming men is even rarer. But Sophie Hyde and co-writer Matthew Cormack go further, and by focussing on the relationship of parent and child, they have created a remarkable triumph. 52 Tuesdays is an authentic, compassionate portrayal and it is intensely gripping.
52 Tuesdays is showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 13 August 2015.
52 Tuesdays Website
Lucy Pickering on Twitter
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