L’immensità, Starring Penélope Cruz, Explores a Trans Boyhood Story

L’immensità is a raw look at family: the good, the bad, and the in-betweens. It’s set in 1970s Rome and features a pretty well-off family.

Oscar-winning actress Penélope Cruz plays the mother of three children and the wife of a philandering, abusive man. Her oldest is Adri (Luanna Giuliani) — who says his name is Andrea, a masculine Italian name, but who is still called Adriana by his family. Adri comes into his trans identity throughout the film. Longing to be recognized as his true self, he doesn’t find that support in his family. He finds support (and love) in a local girl named Sara. She’s Roma, part of a marginalized ethnic group that’s derogatorily called gypsies.

Not knowing the words to describe himself, Adri says he’s from outer space. He’s an alien.

The Music Box film, a semi-autographical tale from Italian director Emanuele Crialese, made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last September. The film will be released in theaters in the U.S. Friday.

Crialese revisited his own childhood in crafting the story. He said that it was always the "next" movie for him. But eventually, it had to be done.

He also didn’t want L’immensità to be a “too dramatic drama or too comedic comedy,” he told The Advocate previously.

“My main hope is that all the kids in us could kind of reconnect with that particular moment of our life, where we were kind of powerless, but full of superpowers, which are our imaginations, our fantasies.”

Watch an exclusive clip from L’immensità below between Adri and his mother, Cruz’s character, as they discuss his identity and he tells her, "I'm from another galaxy."