Tornar-se um Homem na Idade Média (2022) - full transcript

Mirene and André are a heterosexual couple struggling with infertility issues. Carl and Vicente are a homosexual couple undergoing an experimental procedure in order to have a biological child. The film's classic cinematography contrasts with a science-fictionalised narrative, to deliver an utterly refreshing exploration of gender, reproduction, normativity, and the notion of family. A work that's food for thought - like the lab-grown meat in its opening scene.

Why did you bring me this piece of meat?

Can I call it meat?

That's what it is.

So that's what you should call it.

There's nothing wrong
with that piece of meat.

It's lab-made.

It's not a soy or plant-based substitute.

It's meat.

Genetically produced from scratch.

And what do you want me to do with it?

Am I supposed to eat it?



No animal was killed to make
that meat in front of you, André.

It was developed from bovine stem cells.

The cells are preserved
and available in a database.

To be perfectly honest,
you don't even need a cow.

Any other mammalian cells work.

You should visit a lab.

I can get you inside if you want.

It looks more like meat
than true meat looks like.

That word “truth” doesn't
make much sense anymore.

I heard it tastes like real meat too.

Of course, that's because it is meat.

Have you tried it?

If it doesn't come from
any animal, what's the harm?

Don't tell me you can't make that jump?



Do you want me to cook it for you?

I don't know...

It sounds artificial.

- Hi Carl.
- Hi Mirene.

I'm ending this call.

Good to know you kept
my visit secret from André.

Let's see what our dear vegan does.

Don't you love it?

Why didn't you tell me Carl had passed by?

He came by yesterday but you arrived late.

To have to deal with this
so early in the morning...

Are you gonna eat that or not?

C'mon, you'll be late to the university.

Becoming Male in the Middle Ages

The ovary had been implanted surgically
just below Vicente's belly button.

The surgery was extremely simple.

The scalpel opened
the tiniest cut on his abdomen

and in there the ovary went.

Vicente walked out of
the clinic on his own two feet.

Carl waited for me at
the clinic the whole time.

Then back home,
he wouldn't stop taking care of me.

As if I was invalid.

And how do you feel carrying
that implant inside of you?

It's abstract.

It's an organ, I don't
think much about it.

And now?

Now we wait.

But you know there are
trans men who give birth, right?

And women who don't have any ovaries.

Vicente wasn't exactly pregnant.

He had no belly.

He wouldn't have to sleep sideways.

He wouldn't have to endure
any vomits and morning sickness.

He wouldn't feel his hormones
go wild and moody,

and no one would complain
about him being temperamental.

Vicente would not give birth,
because he will never have an uterus.

Vicente only carried
the ovary for about ten weeks.

Any fatty tissue works
fine for the implant.

Preferably the inner side
of the arms and the belly.

Or in certain cases even one breast.

This isn't Vicente's case,
who remains slim as ever.

At this stage the ovary remains dormant.

Later the man must undergo
hormonal therapy to resurrect the ovary.

The eggs are harvested via a syringe

and from there it's a regular IVF process

and a surrogate mother.

If the ovary doesn't produce any eggs

doctors call it a “failed male pregnancy.”

And the ovary must be
removed from the host body.

Why didn't anyone tell me about it?

I don't know, I'm sorry.

It's been so hard for both of us lately,

I didn't want to bother
you with more problems.

And Vicente knew about the risks.

It might not work,
so he didn't want to talk much about it.

But I'm his friend as well.

It's kind of weird that
I wasn't told anything at all.

André, please.

Alright.

Are you meeting them?

Yes, later today.

And you?

How do you feel?

I mean, I'm happy for them, but honestly?

They're so obsessed with themselves.

And their life, it's all
so predictable and alienated.

Right, even their language.

Have you noticed?

He's not even pregnant.

It's all an illusion.

But sometimes I wonder if you
aren't implying that in getting pregnant,

men like him are
stealing the place of women?

No, that's not at all
what I'm saying, André.

I'm talking about medical negligence.

Hysteria and psychoanalysis.

The Pill.

What are you trying to say?

Of course, I'm sorry.

But if you think about it,

maybe they're liberating women
from those stereotypical roles.

No?

Is he alright?

Yes.

We're trying again.

How much do you want this baby?

He wants this baby.

And I'm not the one to tell him no.

Haven't you ever felt
that desire of parenthood?

I never wanted a child.

But I know it's important for him.

I know he thought about
it when he was young.

When he first came out.

If he'd ever have any children.

And what about adoption?

We've discussed this before.

It's complicated.

Vicente is...

Right.
I'm sorry.

We'll talk later.

The reasons for your
implant's failure are certainly physical.

But we should also care for
your psychological condition.

But saying that the
failure was psychological

feels a bit absurd, no?

These things between
body and mind aren't that linear.

Well, what's important is how you

as a couple are
dealing with the situation.

Vicente's ovary came from a woman.

But her identity remained anonymous.

Just like their future surrogate.

Neither Carl nor Vicente
seemed to think much about it.

I, on the other hand,
could not help but wonder

about a woman who
had been surprised by cancer.

And because of it decided
to freeze one of her ovaries,

in the hope of, once cured,
re-implant it back in her body,

And hopefully one day have children.

I thought about those organs.

Two functional ovaries, just like mine,

and still no baby.

You know it has to be like this.

Some days are more fertile than others.

And there's a full moon.

I know, but it's like we're treating
my hormonal cycles as a factory.

Or the best hours to send an email.

Do you want to go back to the injections?

No.

Enough hormones.

They make me feel sick.

André always wanted a child.

For years we avoided the topic.

He knew I didn't want babies.

Not for professional reasons.

It was my choice
and I had a right to it, that was all.

André respected me
and stopped talking about it.

But once we reached our thirties

André raised the issue again.

And I eventually conceded.

A last attempt, now that
our chances were narrowing.

I guess he meant my chances.

André was up for a surprise.

Everyone talks about
women's biological clock.

But not many people know about

the loss of quality in men's sperm.

It's a crisis.

In reality one in six
men suffer from infertility.

Not that you're entirely infertile, André.

But the motility of your sperm, that is,

the way your sperm navigates,

its movement,

is not the best.

We have here a slight deformation.

Here we were thinking that
the problem was Mirene's

when in fact it was you all the time.

It seems the cause can
be toxicity from plastics.

Like to make plastic more
gelatinous and soft, you know?

Or maybe it's just
environmental pollution,

hormonal disruptors,
chemicals in the air, in the water...

We barely notice it until it's too late.

Maybe that's also my problem.

Or Carl's own sperm.

Maybe we have the same problem as André.

Vic, your problem doesn't
have anything to do with this.

Right, sure.

Keep your expectations low.

That seems to be the new philosophy.

At least that's what
the psychologist says.

And it's all so expensive...

Yes, but the truth is
that a male gay couple

earns more money
together than a straight couple.

After all they're two men.

A woman always learn less.

And now?

Now nothing.

It was months since that first ovary

had been removed from Vicente's body.

After the failure of the
first and second implant

Vicente got another one.

And then another.

And another.

Vicente was collecting scars.

Now the ovary came to him in apparitions.

All those ovaries grafted in his body

– after the belly, the arm,

after the arm, the thigh –

melted into a mental
image of that first ovary.

Vicente felt a cellular-like
form of loss with each failure.

If even André, confronted
with his infertility, felt something,

how not Vicente?

At some point I lost track
of Vicente and Carl's attempts.

And withdrew voluntarily from their drama.

André and I had our own problems.

It was just that ours
were less spectacular.

André complained about it,

the attention that Vicente
and Carl's struggle got.

And I know how, in secret, they suffered.

Without talking, as usual.

I didn't want to make
our infertility a private matter.

I wanted it to be public.

But the fact that the infertility was his

made the case even more political.

For me it revealed
something about fragility.

And how our bodies
never belong entirely to us.

This was it, right?

Yes.

Your ova were perfect.

They were ready to inseminate.

But who could've guessed
that such a terrible thing

would happen to your surrogate.

And so young.

There's nothing we can do.

But I ask you not to
lose hope, we'll find a belly.

We'll have to freeze.

Hello, Carl.

Hi Mirene.

Vicente told me about the good news.

Yes.

But we've got an issue.

Wait.

Go ahead.

That's when Carl told me
that their surrogate mother

had just been diagnosed with cancer.

How ironic, I thought.

A woman's cancer had given Vicente

the possibility of an implant.

Of imagining that he too could gestate.

And now it was cancer
what also stole him of his dream.

Still my thoughts weren't with them.

But with that woman.

Now they would have to
find another surrogate mother

and the process would be complicated.

“I ate some of that artificial
meat that Carl showed me.

I don't know why I did it.

I don't feel well.”

Do you want a child or a family?

There's nothing strange with my question.

It's a rhetorical question, Vicente.

Not at all.

I could have a baby by myself
or have a child with you.

It doesn't matter.

The ova are okay.

The process went well.

I decided to be the
surrogate mother to your baby.

Isn't it too close to home?

Too confusing?

Isn't that the point of a family?

It sounds artificial.

We can create our own artificiality.

Carl?

Written and directed by

produced by

starring

with the special participation of

director of photography

first and second camera assistants

light and sound

art direction, clothes,
and special effects

edited by

post-production studio, color grading

sound design, voice over recording

original soundtrack by

music cover by

director of production
and executive producers

equipment and film lab

with the support of

acknowledgments