Laughing Moon

To win the affections of the gay dad she’s never known, Frédérique (Valérie Lemercier) dresses up as a boy. But her country upbringing was short on cultural savvy, and her clubby clothes and mincing walk are the sort of queer clichés that make her father squirm. He and his boyfriend (Dieudonné) work hard to keep their affair out of the public eye, and Frédérique’s gay act embarrasses rather than pleases. Lemercier’s second film as director and actress is a very funny, sometimes burlesque, tale, which refreshingly casts homosexuality as a norm from which its straight characters deviate. Visual gags, a witty script and colourful sets are married to warm performances that are nuanced enough to be both hilarious and touching. (In French.)