Little Girl Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Little Girl Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 29, 2022

Kind of hilariously, the ancient adage "before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes" is ascribed by various online data aggregators to everyone from Billy Connolly to Eminem, though my strong hunch is the phrase predates either of those profound philosophers by quite some time. Without being too "cute" about, one might slightly morph that statement into "walk a mile in their ballet slippers" (since the focal character of this piece loves to dance) when approaching the potentially treacherous territory that Little Girl explores. This really riveting French documentary depicts the traumas, tribulations and, yes, triumphs of a family who have a child born biologically male but who insists from a very young age that "he" is a girl (and the rest of this review will refer to this child with feminine pronouns). People who feel they've been born with the wrong gender have become more commonplace over the course of the past several years, but the whole subject of being transgender is still often fraught with peril and often at times pretty outsized emotion from both those who say they are transgender, as well as some who insist the whole idea of being transgender is some kind of other psychological issue, if indeed it's anything at all (I'll refer to one situation that's actually in the news currently as this review is being written, in my final comments, below).

Now there are those who insist "gender dysphoria" isn't a "real" thing and that many younger kids in particular are somehow being talked into gender reassignment surgery, and, frankly, some coming to Little Girl may well feel there is some kind of psychological component involved with little Sasha's mother in the family portrayed in this piece, since the mother freely admits she wanted a girl very badly and perhaps passed some of that longing on to her child, who sought nothing more than to please her mother. That said, little Sasha is a remarkably articulate young soul, and makes it clear that she has always thought of herself as a girl, no matter what her mother may or may not have wanted.

Little Girl is almost unbearably intimate at times, and it doesn't shirk from some of the anti-trans opinions that some folks have, but it also provides a really heartwarming account of a family faced with a situation they didn't expect, and who became stronger due to it. In fact it's the support of Sasha's family that may really bring a lump to the throat of even the coldest hearted viewer.

Little Girl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Little Girl is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. The IMdb lists the Sony CineAlta PMW-F55, and I'm assuming the DI was finished at 2K. This is a nicely sharp and well detailed looking documentary, with just a few passing deficits in some quite dimly lit material, as in a couple of scenes with Sasha and her mother in Sasha's bedroom. Otherwise, though, the palette pops very naturally and detail levels are routinely excellent. There's a bit of artiness on display at times in some of the framings, which can emphasize things like backlighting, but a surplus of close-ups help to elevate fine detail levels quite a bit of the time.

Little Girl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Little Girl features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio options in the original French. This is by and large a "talking heads" feature, and as such surround activity is typically limited to ambient environmental effects and some lovely source music from the likes of Debussy. All of the spoken material is delivered cleanly and clearly and I noticed no issues whatsoever with any distortion, dropouts or other damage. Optional English subtitles are available.

Little Girl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Conversation from the New York Premiere (HD: 27:21) is a September 2021 interview with Sébastien Lifshitz. This includes the parent of a transgender child. In English.


• Interview with Director Sébastien Lifshitz (HD; 34:44) is a Zoom like interview with Jean-Marc Lalanne. In French with English subtitles.


• Filmmaker Q & A from Rendez-Vous with French Cinema (HD; 30:26) is another Zoom like interview featuring Sébastien Lifshitz moderated by a gentleman who never introduces himself. In English.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 10:44)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:16)

Note: There is also a Play All option for the above supplements.

Little Girl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kind of interestingly, just as this review is being written a "transgender celebrity" is in the news courtesy of Amy Schneider's spectacular run as a champion on Jeopardy!, perhaps providing a bit of positive reinforcement for other transgender people looking for a positive role model. However, perhaps you've also been hearing about the (most?) recent controversies surrounding Joe Rogan and guest Jordan Peterson on Rogan's podcast on Spotify, something that, along with comments Rogan has made about other things like the pandemic, has led to well publicized exits from the streaming platform by such musicians as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. I frankly don't listen to any podcasts, but in reading news accounts of the interchanges between Rogan and Peterson, some of which included video taken from the podcast, one of the things that evidently created some of the controversy was Peterson's arguably dismissive comments on transgender issues. It might be instructive for anyone curious about these issues, whether or not they agree with proponents or opponents of "gender dysphoria", to spend a little time with Sasha and her parents and family just to see what some of these people actually experience. Now, as mentioned above, there is a kind of curious subtext here involving Sasha's mother which may raise an eyebrow or two, but I still think this documentary is an absolutely fearless, important piece of filmmaking that may help to foster greater understanding of anyone who feels somehow "different". Highly recommended.