52 TUESDAYS

Australia, 2013, 109 minutes, Colour.
Tilde Cobham- Harvey, Del Herbert- Jane, Beau Travis Williams, Mario Spate.
Directed by Sophie Hyde.

52 Tuesdays is a documentary or, rather, a docudrama, set in Adelaide. it has won several international awards, including one at the Sundance Festival.

The filmmakers have used the technique of filming every Tuesday for one year at a specific time, building up something of a cinematic/video diary of two of the central characters. This means A cumulative effect over the year, taking account of the different changes, even in appearance, of the characters.

While this technique is interesting in itself, one might compare it to the documentary A Day in the Life, which used the contrary method of filming many episodes on the one day all over the world and editing them into a feature film.

But there is a particular interest in this story. We are introduced to a teenager, Billie (Tilde Cobham-Harvey), who immediately confides her situation straight to camera. She says that she has never had any secrets from her mother but is overwhelmed when she discovers that her mother, Jane (Del Herbert-Jane) has made the decision to have a transgender physical and psychological treatment to become James.

Most audiences are probably not familiar with anyone who has had a transgender procedure. This is an opportunity to see, to understand, what a person who has made this decision has to go through for themselves and for their family.

Jane is quite a sympathetic character, separated from her husband (Beau Travis Williams) but on good terms. Jane thinks it better if Billie goes to live with him during the time of the transition. At first unwilling, Billie decides to go. In the interactions, and clashes, about what is to happen, mother and daughter arrange to meet every Tuesday for a year. As the film proceeds, it lists the date as well as the number for the interaction.

Billie is a strong personality and as we follow her year, and her change of appearance, we see her bewildered, becoming obsessed with sexuality, observing and filming her friends and their sexual encounters. This brings her into trouble at school and with her friend with whom she is close. Her parents are informed and have to deal with the situation. Billie has moods over the year, unhappy with her mother at times, coming to terms with calling her James, reacting to material sent by computer from the US where James encounters transgender people. Billie also discovers the James is in a partnership with a woman friend.

James is doing something very different and is always trying to come to terms with what is happening, physical changes, psychological changes, emotional changes, dealing with Billie as a parent at the same time – which takes its toll.

There is a final confrontation, to do with the video material, with her parents, with the mother of her friend, and with her uncle (quite an odd and unexplained character with a daughter) with the teenage Billie having to come to terms, at least temporarily, in the situations of her life.

Some audiences may find the successive Tuesdays a strain on their attention and interest, even repetitive and at times tedious. Others will find the film an arresting documentation of characters in unusual situations.


1. The themes? Transgender issues? Youth and adolescence issues? Sexuality and growing up, family? Bonds?

2. The impact of the techniques, the non--professional cast, the 52 Tuesdays, the script written for filming once a week, the look of the characters week by week, the changes? The passing of one year?

3. Adelaide, the realistic settings, naturalistic treatment, the short episodes, like film clips, the way that they were edited, the effect, the impact over time?

4. The cast, the performances? Credible?

5. The introduction to Billie, her age, initially talking to camera, her situation, her relationship with her mother, secrets and confiding? Her shock at the news about her mother’s changing to be a man?

6. The character of the mother, as Jane, separated from the father, her decision about transgender, the background, her awareness of herself as male? Separating from her husband but wanting her daughter to stay with him? The role of Harry, James’s brother, his daughter and the visits? The household?

7. Billie’s story, relationship with her mother, going to live with her father, the shock, the deal of meeting every Tuesday, the specific times? With her father? Her friends from school, her truancy? The preoccupation with sexual matters? The camera? Photographing herself, her friends, the sexual experiences? The effect on her? Her clashes with her friend, the visits to her mother, some successful, some not, talking, irritation, her mother’s exasperation? The issue of sex, Roger? The parents being called to the principal, the discussions about Billie’s behaviour?

8. Jane becoming James, her experiences over the 52 Tuesdays, the captions given as to the dates, and the number of Tuesdays? Billie and her missing some of the Tuesdays, or delaying, James and the phone calls? Going to the US, the interviews with the transgender people, Billie watching them on the computer? The effect on James’s health, changes, breasts, uterus surgery? James and the partner? The discussions? Billie learning of this? The clashes between the two, Billie punching her mother, the hospital sequences? The significance of the film and destroying it? The strong words from her father? Harry with the back up, his putting it outside the door and his destroying the footage?

9. Jane to James, the physical changes, psychological, the female experience, the male experience, look, medication, surgery? The effect of dealing with Billie? The support of her husband? Harry? The demands on her as a parent, whether mother or father? The visit to America, the friends, the discussions of the issues?

10. James’s partner, life together, secrecy?

11. Billie’s father, his work, love, the separation, the importance of discipline? His hair and beard changes over the year? The issue of the video, going to the principal, talking plainly to Billie? His accident, in the hospital at the end?

12. The significance of Harry, his look and manner, his daughter, ambiguous?

13. The friends from school, together, the clashes, the girl’s mother and her illness? The issue of the footage, the girls showing it to her mother? The reconciliations?

14. James and the end, becoming a man? Billie and her getting through her adolescence – for the better or not?