Netflix Pushes ‘Girl’ to Spring Following Backlash

This Girl has been interrupted.

Girl, the Belgian film put up for consideration for the best foreign language film at the Academy Awards, will not come to Netflix on January 18 as previously announced, according to a story released in the New York Times that details the criticism the film has faced following its time on the festival circuit.

According to the Times, the film does not have a definite release date, but will come out in the spring of 2019.

In a previous post, INTO called the film “trans trauma porn” and wrote, “the film is bloody and obsessed with trans bodies in a way that reminds us that a cisgender person wrote and directed it.” The review continued, “I’m warning trans people not to watch it and cis people not to fall for it.”

Several other critics followed suit. In December, critic Oliver Whitney wrote in The Hollywood Reporter that the film “succeeds at one thing: showcasing the cruel ways trans people are continually reduced to and defined by their bodies, though without a stitch of self-awareness.”

Quickly after, Danielle Solzman called the film “dangerous” in SlashFilm, adding:“[Director Lukas] Dhont’s obsession with genitalia reveals, whether intentional or not, a transphobic streak in the film.” Out’s Tre’vell Anderson said, “What’s wrong with Girl is what’s wrong with most projects that claim to represent the experiences of trans people with no substantive participation of trans voices. It’s a missed opportunity to properly contextualize the experiences of trans folks coming into ourselves as more than purely physical and medical.”

The Times also noted that that Netflix has reached out to Trans Lifeline, a trans-led organization that also runs a suicide prevention hotline, for suggestions about advisory language to run before the film. According to the Times, several trans people urged Netflix “to be specific about what they said were medical inaccuracies in Girl.”