Kino Lorber
DVD box cover
Sophie Hyde’s new film had an unusual filming schedule.
52 Tuesdays was filmed only on one day of the week over the course of a year. The film is divided into a series of segments, all set on Tuesday afternoons.
The beauty of
52 Tuesdays lies in its simplicity — It’s a slow, dialogue-heavy film. Hyde points her camera at her cast and allows them to bare their souls. When the film is over, viewers may feel as if they’ve spent a Tuesday afternoon with old friends.
As 52 Tuesdays begins, 16-year-old Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) is moving back in with her dad. Her parents have been divorced for some time and Billie has been living with her mother Jane (Del Herbert-Jane). Jane announces her intent to begin gender transition and that his name will be James. Billie and James agree to meet every Tuesday at 4 p.m. and spend six hours together so as not to lose their connection to each other. As James progresses further into his transition Billie begins to explore her own sexuality. There are complications, such as when James is told by his doctor that his body is rejecting the hormone treatments. Billie, meanwhile, gets into trouble at school for sending a nude photo of herself to a friend.
The screenplay by Matthew Cormack, based on a story by himself and Hyde, deals with these and other issues with great sensitivity. There are no heroes or villains in
52 Tuesdays. These are ordinary, everyday people stumbling in the dark as they seek to define who they are to themselves and to each other.
Teenage Tilda Cobham-Hervey is sensational in her screen debut. She offers a sensitive and nuanced performance as a young woman who’s forced to deal with more than what she’s prepared for. Both the actor and her character display a maturity and a wisdom far beyond their years. Del Herbert-Jane, a gender non-conforming person in real life, offers an equally revealing performance as James. Herbert-Jane was originally hired to be the film’s gender diversity consultant.
The film has a spontaneous feel, in part because the script was written from week to week as filming progressed. The actors received their lines for the following week’s shoot at the conclusion of each Tuesday’s filming. This makes
52 Tuesdays feel as though it’s set in the real world during real time.
Kino-Lorber’s DVD release of
52 Tuesdays offers a blooper reel, deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes documentary. The film is now available.