Different for Girls (1996)

Just perfect...

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

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"

I began to watch this film thinking that it would be about the usual prejudice and queer bashing.......What I realized is that it was a very touching drama about a post-op male to female transsexual and a former male schoolfriend. I thoroughly enjoyed this and have watched it 8 times in 3 days. It is so touching and tender and at the end, concentrates on the nice side of life. It makes me feel so humble.It has given me a lot to think about how I was maybe a little more judgemental than I thought I was.Brilliant acting.I have fallen for Rupert Graves, who plays the male schoolfriend,- I have visited his website and am going home to find the film, 'Damage', which I already have - and I have ordered 'Room With A View'.Rupert and Steven are such a brilliant actors. I can't believe that Steven Mackintosh, who played the very gentle and very ladylike, Kim, could be the same horrible guy who is 'The Street', thug and bullyboy from Prime Suspect 5.Both excellent main actors, as well as a well known supporting cast, which included Charlotte Coleman, (who has sadly since died, aged 33, from an asthma attack), Saskia Reeves, Miriam Margolyes and Neil Dudgeon.I have looked for the DVD on region 2 in this country, but I can only find it NTSC, Region 1.Can anyone help ?Enjoy,Best Wishes,Indigopussycat2. xx

The premise of this film is a good one - two boys are best friends at school and then on meeting later one of them has had a gender reassignment (Karl becomes Kim). How will his/her former friend react when they meet again?In a difficult role, Steven Mackintosh does surprisingly well as Kim (except for a nude scene which is distracting for all the wrong reasons - that's when they really needed a girl); while Rupert Graves struggles with his feelings as the usually bigoted Paul whose preconceptions are challenged.'Different for Girls' has a lot to say about society's attitude to hims who becomes hers (and vice versa, by implication) and almost succeeds in getting to a conclusion as valuable as films such as 'My Beautiful Laundrette' were to gay liberation. It isn't really anyone's fault that it falls short of expectations, and the fact that it was made at all gives us hope of an excellent movie on the same topic in the future.

.SPOILER!!!! I saw the movie for the first time last night, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The performances by the two lead characters were not only believable, but touching as well.The most enjoyable aspect of the movie (and what could easily be missed if you miss the shower scene at the very beginning of it) is the twist in the story at the very end. In the shower scene, we see a young Prentice coming to the defence of and comforting a schoolmate after being picked on by a group of bullies/students for being queer. The assumption is made that the boy Prentice "rescues" is Kim/Karl. However, we only realize near the end of the movie when Kim/Karl's before and after photos are published by the newspaper that he was actually NOT the rescued boy, but one of the bullies instead.All in all, the movie is a really good watch, and I would definitely see it again....