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 The story revolves around three generations, a lesbian
matriarch, a single mother, and a teen who is born female but is
determined to become Ray.
"It was all inspired by being a mother, having a family, and
being part of a family," director Gaby Dellal told a packed
audience at the world premiere at the Toronto International Film
Festival this weekend.
The film features Susan Sarandon as a stalwart from an older
generation raised on sexual, not gender, politics and Naomi
Watts as a single mother who just wants her child to be happy.
Elle Fanning, now 17 but 16 during filming, hopes the movie will
help society better understand the struggles of transgender
youth and help families of trans teens with the changes they
must undertake to complete their journey.
"I think people aren't as educated on the topic as they should
be. They need to understand exactly what it is," Fanning told
Reuters.
"It's not an option, it's actually just who the person is, it's
who they are inside, so why would you prevent someone from being
who they are?"
Before Ramona can make the physical transition to Ray, her
mother, played by Watts, must track down the man whose name
appears on the birth certificate to get his consent. But it's
not only the male characters that offer resistance.
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Sarandon is a comic foil as the lesbian grandmother who struggles to
accept her grandson.
"About Ray," which opens in North American movie theaters later this
week, follows the premiere in Venice last week of "The Danish Girl,"
starring Eddie Redmayne as one of the first people to undergo male
to female sexual reassignment surgery in the 1930s.
The transition to a woman of former Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner,
and TV series like "Transparent" and "I am Jazz" have also put the
issue under the spotlight.
"It's such a beautiful time to be alive with this kind of fluidity
because it means that for all of us the definition of what you can
be and how you see yourselves and what's possible has just broken
open," said Sarandon
(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Andrea
Ricci)
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