TIFF 2020: A Good Man
tiff 2020Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar's A Good Man is a cluster of positivity and negativity. A feature that hinders itself with every single heartwarming stride due to ill decision or a flat, tone-deaf disaster. Where to start could give anyone a migraine, but beginning with the positives would be to sail the calm before the inevitable storm.
For starters, the soundtrack throughout is fantastic. It has an underlining, effective quality that, throughout the running time, never provokes or becomes outlandish yet crafts thematic weight in the background. It is an element that continuously broods in the backdrop for added provocation that heightens the images at hand. It seems counterproductive that a soundtrack or score that isn't loud and telling would be so effective. Nevertheless, it works to a remarkable degree of merging mood within its genres of drama and romance with a sizzling synthesiser.
The cinematography by Myriam Vinocour is also impressive. Utilising a faux handheld approach offers an intimate and warm melding of mood, as well as the affection of both leads. Combined with a beautiful colour palette and grading that undeniably crafts a warming palette and equally a sombre approach when the film approaches those moments.
Positives out the way, now the controversy arises. Mention-Schaar's film follows a french couple who can not conceive due to Aude (Soko) being sterile. Her partner, Benjamin, is a trans man who decides to take the birth upon himself and bare an extraordinary emotional weight as well as the social pressure of being outed to his peers and friends in the process.
On the surface, the feature is an uplifting and, quite frankly, compelling tale of the pressures the LGBTQ+ community face. Not only focusing on the mental fatigue and psychological ramification of their own body, but the extreme pressures of being accepted. A Good Man does an exemplary job of showcasing and provoking these very thoughts and feelings on screen but with one major issue.
Benjamin is played by A Portrait of a Lady on Fire's Noémie Merlant – a cis woman. For many, this is where the film will begin and end, with such a decision by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar not to cast a trans man in the leading role. It is hard to not argue against such a negative response to the controversy either. Trans representation in the last few years has taken a rise in acceptance and incorporation into cinema. Leyna Bloom in Danielle Lessovitz's Port Authority, Isabel Sandoval in Lingua Franca, or Laverne Cox in Orange Is the New Black.
Nevertheless, the fight is still hard-fought, and it is still a hard-pressed task to see correct representation on screen. To have all the pieces here, perfectly in place, yet for Mention-Schaar to still fail to accurately and respectfully cast correctly is not only a failure but undeniably problematic. More uncertain and disheartening is the fact Merlant is a rising LGBTQ+ icon after her international breakout performance in Sciamma's critically acclaimed feature. To see her make this decision makes her previous exploits hollow and disheartening.
Ultimately, the decision to cast Noémie Merlant as a trans man is, quite frankly, unforgivable in this current climate, and no excuse of exploring the merits of performance can save that ship from sinking. This and a few other very strange and equally as problematic questionable decisions – such as a fleeing partner in need only to return – sabotages a feature that had a whole host of potential.
