She's The He

Bluesky

In recent years a worrying number of men on the right of US politics have stepped up to declare that had trans rights been a thing when they were at high school or college, they would have pretended to be trans in order to get into girls’ changing rooms and ogle the objects of their desire. Not only is this really not the gotcha they think it is – it doesn’t so much address others’ behaviour as their own need to be on a watchlist – it’s poorly thought through. What would really happen in a situation like that? She’s The He, which screened at SXSW 2025, aims to find out.

Meet Alex (Nico Carney) and Ethan (Misha Osherovich). They’ve been best friends for so long that everyone is convinced they’re a couple, despite the fact that Alex is always hitting on Mary (Suzanne Cryer), Ethan’s mum. This frustrates Alex because it’s destroying his chances with the girl of his dreams, Sasha (Malia Pyles). So he hatches a plan. Given that they’re already used to living with the stigma of homosexuality, why not go one step further and announce that they’re trans? Bundling the reluctant Ethan into a bizarre tangle of pieces of feminine clothing, he heads straight for the girls’ changing rooms, only to panic when the girls arrive, en masse, and he realises that they might get the shit beaten out of them. As it is, things go better than he feared, but nothing is as simple as he thought – and whilst his own life gets more and more tangled, Ethan is abruptly forced to reckon with something else.

Many trans people – especially those from older generations who grew up with very little awareness of anything beyond the mainstream view of gender – can remember the moment when they first became aware of what it was that made them feel different. The shock of recognition after years of feeling vaguely uncomfortable and out of place can be overwhelming. For Ethan, it happens when Sasha dresses her up, and it’s perhaps the sweetest cinematic take on this moment to date. Seeing her sudden vulnerability, watching her face light up, it’s impossible not to root for her afterwards. She may have joined her friend in doing something pretty awful, but the discovery she makes in the process is enchanting.

Director Siobhan McCarthy is adept at using the long-established visual language of the high school movie both to entertain and to show us the world from a perspective that’s relatively new to cinema. From the moment that she recognises herself, Ethan’s gender is strikingly apparent to the viewer. She fits effortlessly into the familiar role of the shy girl gradually finding her feet around the popular people, and it absolutely makes sense that Forest (Tatiana Ringsby), who is only interested in girls, would begin to take a shine to her. Navigating all this new territory is not easy, however. There’s no guarantee that it will go down well at home, and trying to deal with anything nuanced and delicate around Alex is asking for trouble.

Then there are the other boys in the school: the macho ones, the jocks. As Alex begins to realise the error of his ways, they hail him as a hero and decide to try and follow in his footsteps. This makes room for a scene in which viewers are free to laugh at men in dresses as hard as they ever did – indeed, it’s hard not to – but from a completely different position. There is no hypocrisy involved in mocking their efforts whilst accepting Ethan because it’s their gender, rather than the details of their bodies, which is glaringly out of place.

In dealing with this macho aggression, the film briefly ventures into dark territory – something we are forewarned about by slightly older gay guy Davis (Mark Indelicato), who becomes the protagonists’ advisor on all things queer – but this, too, McCarthy subverts with skill and ferocious humour. Their confidence as a first time director is remarkable, and the result is a film that will mean the world to young trans viewers but will entertain pretty much anybody willing to engage with the spirit of it. Like the best high school movies, it’s fun to watch at any age. The world-weary Mary brings a cynical adult perspective and a take of womanhood that many older viewers will relate to, but ultimately the film hinges on the idea of change and growth, with the potential to bring positive things to everyone.

In lesser hands, She’s The He could easily have been a disaster. Thanks to McCarthy and their capable team, it’s a delight throughout.