Beast International Film Festival 06 — 08 JUN 2025

SYNOPSIS

SINOPSE

In a fairy tale register made famous a decade later by the French movie “Amélie,” “All Alone in the World” tells the story of two parents who do their best in order to offer their son a sister. Unable in any way to procreate again, they come up with a wild idea: to enroll their boy in school under two identities – a boy and a girl. In dozens of short, equally funny and heartwarming vignettes, Tudor Giurgiu pays tribute to both the memorable androgynous beauty of Tadzio, the character from “Death in Venice,” and nonbinarity. Although the entire narrative apparatus seems to be driven by the peculiarity of the situation and the social and personal complications fostered by the refusal to opt for a clearly defined gender, the film never turns into an explicit plea for the freedom of gender identity; it does even more than that, since, although it accuses the parents for being so intrusive in their child’s life, it never suggests that the (fe)male protagonist was influenced by their attitude in any way. On the contrary, even after (s)he remains all alone in the world, (s)he continues to live a life where their two gender identities seem to bring them happiness and fulfillment. (Andrei Rus)