The obligatory birthday cake with candle decorations is actually a wonderful ritual. But Ray can't really enjoy it. "Every year I blow out the birthday candles and wish for the same thing: to be a boy". For his 16th birthday, Ray wants nothing more than to finally be able to start hormone therapy.
He has long since discarded his birth name. His hairstyle, outfit, character and posture express how Ray has felt since early childhood. Now Ray is celebrating his 16th birthday and is old enough to start hormone therapy. But both parents have to agree to this. And that's where the problem begins for Ray.
Trans* themes in film and television have recently become quite popular and generally offer a differentiated, confident and progressive view of the lives of trans* people. The US production by British director Gaby Dellal also fits into this series. The process of self-discovery, which used to be the focus of most trans* films, has long been behind Ray. "All the Colours of Life" also skips this chapter. Ray's family has long since accepted his decision; after all, they themselves live in unconventional constellations with individualistic ideas of self-realisation.
Ray and his single, extremely understanding mother Maggie (Naomi Watts) share an old brick house in Brooklyn with grandmother Dolly (Susan Sarandon) and her partner Frances (Linda Emond). Ray couldn't have had it any better, you think. Where, if not in this open-minded and liberal, anything but traditional family, could a trans* boy be in better hands?
"All the Colours of Life" actually paints an emphatic but initially fairly conflict-free family life. The confrontations and tensions are initially only revealed in side comments and minor faux pas: the fact that Ray avoids the gender-segregated school toilets and prefers to go to the loo in a nearby restaurant instead, for example. Or that the grandparents as well as Ray's mum, especially when they are supposedly worried or simply insecure, talk about "her" and not "him" when they mean Ray. Even though Ray seems extremely mature for his age, Maggie is reluctant to sign the consent form for hormone treatment. What if the decision later turns out to be a fatal mistake? And Grandma Dolly, with her dry, detached manner - which also contributes to the film's humour - doesn't understand why Ramona/Ray can't just be a lesbian if he/she ultimately likes women. Being a lesbian, she herself says at one point, does not automatically mean being tolerant.
However, none of these controversies and frictions escalate into existential quarrels. The real battle, it seems, has to be fought far away in an idyllic architect's house in the woods. It is there that Ray tracks down his father Craig (Tate Donovan), who apparently never knew anything about his child and is now all the more overwhelmed. Especially as he has to quickly sign a document authorising Ray to undergo hormone therapy.
Admittedly, this warm-hearted film didn't necessarily need the somewhat overly harmonious ending. But thanks to the consistently great actors, you really enjoy sharing in the vulnerability, doubts and care of the characters. However, parts of the US trans* community were disappointed that Ray was not played by a trans* man. However, Elle Fanning as Ray ("The Neon Demon" and "Maleficient", among others) does a very convincing job. The inner tension, this burning desire to finally leave her old life behind and start anew in a different place, a different school, unencumbered by her actual identity, is something that Elle Fanning makes tangible and tangible in every minute.
"All the colours of life" (About Ray). USA 2016, written and directed by Gaby Dellal. With Elle Fanning, Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon, Linda Emond, Tate Donovan. 93 min. cinema release: 8 December 2016
Trailer and website for the film: www.AlleFarbenDesLebens.de
