Different for Girls (1996)

Sick Product of a Sick System

A Masterpiece!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

yes if i was asked to take just one film to watch on a desert island this is it. the script perfect love the part where Angela hits nail on head when she dumps poor Prentice without actually knowing what the full story is. the way they tell the story to the newspaper brilliant - talk about revenge and having the last laugh with the school bully. have recommended this film to friends and they want to watch again. the film ends too too soon when they disappear around that corner you want to follow them and find out what happens next as the credits roll it is hard to believe it is just a film as you really care about and get to know all the characters. a brilliant piece of directing and script writing. cannot praise this film highly enough and have watched it well into double figures. R.I.P Charlotte Coleman - Alison

Paul Prentice (Rupert Graves) is a blokey guy. Kim (Steven Mackintosh) is a conservative woman. If that wasn't enough to complicate a romance, Kim used to be Karl, Prentice's schoolfriend.The premise could have been used to make a serious drama but refreshingly it becomes a light-hearted quirky rom-com, which isn't afraid to deal with the complications of being transsexual. A previous reviewer quoted the dialogue about Prentice and Kim both being straight. The way the film deals with the subject shows that this is a normal relationship and whatever Kim was in the past does not matter. The uncertainty of both characters is touching and both actors pull off challenging roles.Although when Kim strips naked, Mackintosh looks too masculine to be entirely believable, it shows that you don't need to have a perfect body. It's all about the love.Yes, perhaps this could have made a good drama- the police corruption adds that dramatic element- but the endearing clumsiness of the rom-com coupled with a 'taboo' topic really makes you think about what gender really means. It's a short film too, so worth a watch.

Okay, just so I don't get anyone's back up here (there seems to be a staunch group of defenders surrounding this film), let me first say that I quite liked Different for Girls. I'm not generally a fan of rom-coms, and I found this to be interesting, and raises some valid points in an articulate manner. However, that said, this film does take a while to find its feet. The first half-hour (the friends' re-meeting and so forth) is far too rushed. I don't often say this about films but this could really have done with another half hour of run-time. That would have seriously helped to establish the characters and ground their relationship. After the arrest, the film's pace slows down, and the characterisation improves, having space to breathe. The institutional discrimination is handled really well, and makes the opening scenes (which, as I have already stated, seemed rushed to me) seem like they are going to avoid the serious issues and implications in favour of being overly PC. By the end of the film, I was on-board and impressed. I can see why people are turned off by the opening, and potentially do not give the film a chance once it has faltered. If you can bear with it for 30 minutes, you'll get much more out of the experience.

I am a male to female transsexual, and all I can say is this is the first and ONLY film I have seen handle this subject matter with taste and tact.It sat on my shelf for two years before I watched it. I have seen this theme abused and twisted too many times, and I had assumed the worst. I'm very happy to say I got a very pleasant surprise.Steven Makintosh did a wonderful job of playing Kim, and the fact that Kim's body is not "perfect" is a touch of reality seldom shown when movies or television fictionalize transition.It was an honest approach, as opposed to the the usual "and far less realistic" sexy female actress that a Hollywood would have insisted on using.Kim does not live as a "transgendered person" as is implied in some reviews but as a normal white collar woman in London, her old school friend comes into her structured and very low profile life and turns it upside down from emotional outbursts in restaurants, to a confrontation with the police.His growing acceptance of Kim as a woman, and their growing relationship are wonderful to behold.I don't want to give anything away, but from yet another person who's "been there" the film went between having me on the edge of my seat to having me in tears.I cannot rate this film too highly."For people who NEED a nitpick, I think seeing Pauls girl friends reaction to goings on would have been good, she sort of just drops out of the plot and you never really know why"