Romeos (2011)

A drama centered on the relationship between a two young men, as one of them navigates the difficulties of life as a transgender man.

Director:

Sabine Bernardi

Writer:

Sabine Bernardi (screenplay)

Stars:

Rick Okon, Max Befort, Liv Lisa Fries

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rick Okon	...	Lukas
Max Befort	...	Fabio (as Maximilian Befort)
Liv Lisa Fries	...	Ine
Felix Brocke	...	Sven
Silke Geertz	...	Pflegedienstleiterin Annette
Gilles Tschudi	...	Herr Boeken
Ben Gageik	...	Svens Freund
Sigrid Burkholder	...	Lukas' Mutter
Johannes Schwab	...	Lukas' Vater
Tessa Lukat	...	Leila
Katrin Heß	...	Pflegemädchen Jessy
Mira Benser	...	Pflegemädchen 1 (as Mira H. Benser)
Lilli Lorenz	...	Pflegemädchen 2
Julia Schäfle	...	Blondie
Juliane Knoppek	...	Jaqueline

Storyline

Twenty year old Lukas (Rick Okon) is a female to male (FTM) Trangender man, taking the steps through his gender reassignment treatment. His friendship with Ine (Liv Lisa Fries), who is lesbian, is making the changes and assimilation easier. Lukas sees his romantic world open up for him as Ine introduces him to gay life in Cologne. As he becomes more and more interested in a local gay boy (Max Befort), things are getting more and more complicated.

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Plot Keywords:

transgender | ftm | gender reassignment | friendship | lesbian | 

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Taglines:

How do you love someone, if you don't show who you are?

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was first rated for ages 16+ in Germany arguing it would cause disorientation in sexual identity. After a public outcry the FSK (German rating system) apologized and the film was rated 12+.

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Goofs

Between 1:12 and 1:13, when Lukas is cleaning his room, you see the red "z" with it's dot above (like an upside-down question mark) on the balcony screen. When Fabio sits down on the window sill, the "z" has disappeared (only the dot stays), and it appears again afterwards.

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Soundtracks

I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Performed by Andreas Scholl
Arranged by Craig Leon
(C) Universal Music Publishing
Courtesy of Decca Music Group

User Reviews

Good movie with unfortunate casting

I liked this movie, but casting Rick Okon as Lukas was a serious problem for me. I never for one second believed he was or had ever been female, so I couldn't help relating to that character as a man and only a man.

It's a sharp contrast to the casting 15 years ago of Steven Mackintosh in the mirror-image role of Kim in Different for Girls. Kim is a transgendered male-to-female, and Mackintosh is SO believable as a woman that I had to do considerable research to ascertain that the actor himself wasn't transgendered. He wasn't, and, in fact, he doesn't look the least bit feminine in real life, which makes his casting as Kim all the more remarkable.

Romeos is a pretty good movie anyway, but it doesn't depict the transgender experiences of the character as successfully as it does his experiences as a man. The movie would have been better with someone else cast as Lukas or if Lukas had just been a gay man, which is how he comes across anyway.

In order to make sense of the character Okon was portraying, I had to ignore all the transgender issues, which simply were absurd for that entirely male character, and I'm sure that's not what the director intended.

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Italian

Release Date:

8 December 2011 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Romeus

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$773, 18 September 2011

Gross USA:

$1,081

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,324

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boogiefilm, Das Kleine Fernsehspiel (ZDF), Enigma Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1