Ma Vie en Rose is a fascinating, but foreshortened look at the nature of sexual identity.

In an age when gender-bending has become little more than a source for cheap laughs and even cheaper entertainment, director Alain Berliner''s Ma Vie en Rose, (My Life In Pink) emerges as a thoughtful examination of one family''s struggle to come to terms with their young son''s sexual identity.

Georges Du Fresne stars as Ludovic, a seemingly happy young boy living with his happy, normal family in a happy, middle-class suburb. Beneath the fa‡ade of conventionality and pleasant family life, however, lurks a rather unconventional secret-Ludovic is convinced he is a girl.

As far as Ludovic is concerned, there is neither uncertainty nor anything strange or abnormal about his feelings. He is never loathe to dress up as a girl when the occasion arises, nor to share his feelings with his parents'' neighbors and friends. Ludovic fantasizes that when God was handing out X and Y chromosomes, the extra X chromosome God meant for him accidently wound up in the his family''s trash can. Ludovic''s fantasy life, as revealed in several colorful special effects sequences, also extends to identifying with a popular TV character called Pam, a kind of European Barbie who lives a magical romantic existence.

After years of tolerating their son''s somewhat different if harmless reverie, Ludovic''s parents come to realize they can no longer indulge their son''s eccentric behavior. As the neighbors'' scowling disapproval threatens to shatter the family''s security, Ludovic''s parents embark on a desperate course to convince their son he is not a girl.

Combining elements of comedy, fantasy and wrenching drama, Ma Vie en Rose explores new cinematic territory in describing the struggle all children contend with in coming to terms with their own identity. (Despite its R rating, which is more a reflection of American prudishness than anything overtly shocking, Ma Vie en Rose is a worthwhile film for pre-teens and teens who are much more sophisticated than they are given credit for.)

Where Berliner falls short in his first feature film is in focusing too much on the impact of Ludovic''s revelation on the adults around him. Ludovic''s confession unmasks the tenuous grasp the adults have on their own identities, and the degree to which their lives have been shaped by society''s expectations and delineations of normality.

Berliner fails in getting beneath the surface of Ludovic''s feelings and desires in the face of a world uncomfortable with his own self-image. Perhaps it is in the nature of children not to dig too deeply into their feelings and to trust their instincts, but in order for audiences to better grasp a character''s psychology, some degree of soul-searching is

necessary.

With so many recent film releases pushing the three-hour limit, Ma Vie en Rose is one film that could have been helped by additional screen time beyond its 90 minutes.

Berliner misses a wonderful opportunity to explore Ludovic''s character late in the film when the family is forced to move to a new neighborhood. There, Ludovic meets a girl who looks and behaves more like a boy, a kind of opposite doppelg„nger to Ludovic. Exploring the relationship between these two could have provided wonderful insight into how children try to establish who they are and who they want to be.

Where Ma Vie en Rose fails to provide enough insight into Ludovic, it more than makes up for this shortcoming with the insightful way it handles the burdens children bear in living up to familial and societal expectations. In particular, Berliner provides a devastating expos‚ of the ways in which adults invest their own identities and measure their own self-worth in terms of their children.

As far as Berliner is concerned, so-called "normality" and conventionality are as much a fantasy as a young boy believing he is a girl. For Berliner, Ludovic''s dreams are not only as real and legitimate as the world of adults, but ultimately truer to the spirit of the self.