XXY is a tastefully discreet, deeply moving drama that addresses the awkward dilemma of an "intersex" teenager with remarkable sensitivity. ("Intersex" being the preferred term for those born with shared sex chromosomes and what doctors call "genital ambiguity.") For 15-year-old Alex having an intersex body is a constant source of anguished confusion. Alex has been raised as a girl by loving parents, who moved from Argentina to an island off the coast of Uruguay to spare Alex from adolescent torment by insensitive schoolmates. But now Alex has stopped taking the hormone pills that suppress male characteristics, suggesting a pivotal life choice has been made. When Alex’s mother invites a plastic surgeon and his family to the island, she quietly hopes Alex will consider "reassignment" surgery, while her husband allows Alex more freedom of choice. When Alex and the surgeon’s teenage son Alvaro act upon a tentative, mutual attraction, XXY deepens into a poignant study of sexual identity and self-acceptance.

Making her remarkably assured directorial debut, Argentine writer-director Lucía Puenzo has fully accounted for the turbulent emotions that swirl around Alex and her family. "XXY" is the first film to address intersex identity with graceful compassion, and Puenzo tells Alex’s story with simple, honest and forthright integrity.

What ensues between them, both psychologically and sexually, is one of the strangest, most fascinating dysfunctional relationships I’ve seen in a movie. The acting is outstanding. – Boston Globe

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