A child's teenage years are tricky enough for parents to negotiate as they cope with their offspring's mood swings and raging hormones.

How much more difficult then to have a child who is cursed with not one set of fastly developing genitals, but two?

This is the scenario for 'XXY' which follows the ordeal of hermaphrodite Alex who, just to make matters worse, has a fascination with sex stirred up by the visit of fellow teen, the goofy Álvaro, who visits their Uruguay island retreat with his parents.

His father, a surgeon hoped for a bit of groundbreaking work to add to his stellar CV and his mother Erika hoped it would be a pleasant getaway by the sea. But it quickly turns out to be the holiday from hell.

There are plenty of moody beach scenes, atmospheric music and people walking off in a huff.

Alex's father, a brooding vet named Kraken, is hardly the welcoming host while Alex emerges from being a forlorn figure to an incorrigibly ballsy (excuse the pun) protagonist.

But then life has a way of hardening you up when you are regarded as a freak, you have to keep changing your school and even your best friend betrays your confidence – something which earns the traitor a broken nose.

Indeed the family is prepared to take on all comers as becomes clear they are strong enough to withstand even the practical joke nature has played on Alex.

The film's washed out colour palate, chosen by Argentinian director Lucia Puenzo, might be an attempt at symbolising the bleakness of their lives but very quickly becomes irritating.

It also signifies a lack of confidence in the story line and script which are the model of taught clarity and need no visual prompting.

It could have been worse. The director could have gone for black and white.

But this is my only major quibble with a film which is compelling throughout. The pivotal moment is the sex scene between the teens. It's shocking, not for it's explicitness but for its surprise element which in hindsight has a macabre humour about it.

It becomes clear that despite Alex's problems, she and her dedicated folks will get through it while their visitors, who end up packing a hasty retreat are the ones with the real problems.

While we have all seen a 100 coming of age dramas this is pretty unique in covering a subject, hermaphrodites, that few of us ever give a thought to.

It's a powerful effort full of stellar individual performances made all the better by their understatement.

Winner of the Cannes International Critics Week Grand Prize, as well as a 2008 Goya Award for Best Latin American Film, don't be surprised if 'XXY' sways some judges here.

XXY will be screened tonight at 7 p.m. at Liberty Theatre and again on Sunday at 3.45 p.m. at Little Theatre.