email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

EDINBURGH 2017

Just Charlie: Striving for acceptance

by 

- Edinburgh’s Audience Award winner, helmed by Rebekah Fortune, marks Harry Gilby’s first foray into acting, and he delivers an indelible performance worthy of a Hollywood veteran

Just Charlie: Striving for acceptance
Harry Gilby in Just Charlie

Penned by Peter Machen, who previously worked with director Rebekah Fortune on her 2012 short film Something BlueJust Charlie [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
had its UK premiere as part of the Best of British strand at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. The movie marks Harry Gilby’s one-of-a-kind curio of a screen debut in the all-too-underrepresented role of a teenager secretly struggling with gender dysphoria.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Expanding on the aforementioned short Something Blue, the film revolves around Charlie (Gilby), a consummately skilful young boy with a bright future in football. His father, Paul (Scot Williams), sees in him the fulfilment of his failed childhood dream of becoming a professional football player, so he proudly supports him and guides him down the path to becoming the star he never got the chance to be. The pressure becomes overwhelming for Charlie as we learn he’s struggling with an identity crisis that leads him to doubt everything in his life, including his football career. During a wedding, Charlie realises he’s more attracted to high heels and female accessories than he is to his elegant suit. The tight collar of his shirt is choking him, and he can’t breathe in what has come to be a metaphor for the oppressive lie he has been telling to society and, most importantly, to himself. He leaves the ceremony and runs into a forest, where he previously hid some dresses that his sister Susan (Patricia Potter) gave him to throw away. As he strips off his clothes and quickly puts on a rumpled gown, he can finally breathe again and release all of the pressure that has been building up. This is a turning point for Charlie, who finally accepts that she needs to let her inner self come out, and she has to take full control over her own life.

Just Charlie is first and foremost a film about acceptance. Director Fortune masterfully balances how Charlie deals with her gender dysphoria and how the people around her react – the inside and the outside, the individual and the community. The two aspects are intertwined and inseparable. A moist-eyed Harry Gilby is the undisputed protagonist of a tear-jerking scene in which Charlie tries to explain to her mother and the psychologist that she is invisible to others. Her pain is not at all quelled by the fact that her father feels betrayed and lied to – as do her grandmother and teammates. Charlie is no longer their little boy, and they can’t seem to accept it. The best advice comes from Charlie’s football coach, who, aware of her long-kept secret, reminds her, “There are more important things in life than football,” a sentence that, in its simplicity, becomes an almost revolutionary statement. 

Produced by British outfit Seahorse FilmsJust Charlie is being sold by German-based Media Luna New Films. This funny, sad and uplifting film will certainly continue its festival run, which started in March at Guadalajara, where it received the Maguey Award, thanks in no small part to an unforgettable performance by young Harry Gilby.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy