Did Alfredson Change Eli's Gender?

[drakkar]

Also interesting to watch this animation from the book, aired on Norwegian television before the film release. Here Oskar and Eli are portrayed as in the book, and we see the fat Oskar and the androgynous Eli. Both animation characters are quite different from the film.

One of the scenes that did it for me, was when Oskar and Eli runs off to the candy store, after Eli received the morse sheet and discovered Oskar being bullied. Lina's running gait is very girlish, making it difficult for me to think of Eli as Elias.

[Marcello S.]

Despite what others have said (and what Alfredson said himself) I do feel that Alfredson partly wanted Eli's representation in the film to be that of a girl.
I base this on a couple pieces of evidence:

1. Eli's "girlish" mannerisms: If Alfredson really wanted Eli to be left as a Boy or Androgenous he would have asked Lina to act more boyish. Tomas Alfredson has good attention to detail and as a director I think he would have noticed and changed Eli's girly mannerism if he really wanted to.
Example: That obviously girly twirl Eli does in Oskars mother's dress...after "The Castration Scene" too. Was it put right after for a reason?

2.People's reaction to "The Castrastion Scene".
Example: Of the various people I have shown this film to, almost no one has ever seemed to think that scene was a castration. I would ask the people what they thought it was and they would either say "I don't know"-"maybe part of a vampiric transformation" or "maybe she was tortured during her 200 years of living." Especially if they saw it in Theaters.

3.Alfredson wanted to focus on the relationship between Oskar and Eli, he didnt care so much about being faithful to the novel's twists (*cough* Eli being a girl).
Example: He was relatively conservative in not including more about Hakan and Eli's relationship (Hakan having Pedophilia).

Honestly most people will come in watching this film without reading the novel first. I know I did. After coming out of the film you do one of three things read the book, look up the "Scene" on the internet for answers, or shrug it off and say that was weird but she must have been a girl.
Thats what I think but in the end its all up to the individuals interpretation. I don't mind either way.

[drakkar]

What might have happened is that TA recognizes a gem when he sees one.
They were using the jungle gym scene - when Eli borrows the cube - to cast Eli and Oskar. They spent almost a year searching for the child actors.
Regarding the level of performance delivered by Lina and Kåre - and especially Lina - I believe TA must have noticed this right away and chose Lina and Kåre despite of Lina's very girlish appearance. Maybe he just couldn't let her slip away.

1. Eli's "girlish" mannerisms: If Alfredson really wanted Eli to be left as a Boy or Androgenous he would have asked Lina to act more boyish. Tomas Alfredson has good attention to detail and as a director I think he would have noticed and changed Eli's girly mannerism if he really wanted to.

Frankly I am not sure. Eli sitting on the jungle gym (after nomming Jocke) waiting for Oskar is very girlish, maybe unneccessary girlish, even if Eli in the story did wear girls clothes.

It could be as simple as Lina not being able to deliver her most brilliant subtlety when trying to be a boy. We know Lina was/is into vampires, probably the very reason she applied for the role in the first place. So portraying a vampire probably was a delight for Lina. Portraying a boy was maybe far less delightful.
... and Lina's girlish running wasn't much to do with. The running issue was one of the casting criteria, so TA knew what he got here.

Alfredson even shrugged it off in an interview saying that Eli's true gender doesn't really matter.

To be honest, I thought that was the final point of the book and the final point of Eli and Oskar's story. I thought that was the point of Oskar finally realizing and coming to terms that it doesn't matter what Eli is, that he still wants to be with Eli no matter what she/he is. So I don't see why Alfredson shrugging over the gender is a big deal considering that kind of was the point of Oskar's eventual realisation that it doesn't matter what Eli is.

I don't quite agree. I think TA's point here is the main issue being Eli's and Oskar's love beyond any boundarys, Eli's gender coming second. IMHO Eli's gender issue is an important element in making Eli more complex and making the relationship between Oskar and Eli more profound. Still, the crucial part of the story - both film and novel - is the love between ELi and Oskar, and not Eli's gender.
Remember, the name of the story is "Let the Right One In", not "Let the Right Boy In".
And really - if you could put up with a vampire you also should be able to tolerate a boy.

[gattoparde59]

I don't quite agree. I think TA's point here is the main issue being Eli's and Oskar's love beyond any boundarys, Eli's gender coming second. IMHO Eli's gender issue is an important element in making Eli more complex and making the relationship between Oskar and Eli more profound. Still, the crucial part of the story - both film and novel - is the love between ELi and Oskar, and not Eli's gender.
Remember, the name of the story is "Let the Right One In", not "Let the Right Boy In".
And really - if you could put up with a vampire you also should be able to tolerate a boy.

I agree with that, but I also think that Alfredson the film maker wanted this to be a traditional boy/girl romance, not what we see in the novel. Enough clues were left in for those who were coming from the novel, but the end result is Eli played as a girl. He may not have started out with that idea in mind. This may have been the result of Lina's performance and how much the idea came to appeal to Alfredson.

I am really curious to see how this plays out in the final version of Let Me In. Chloe Moretz seems to be more of a tomboy that Lina. Not that Moretz is the better actress, but that seems to be the type of role she is attracted to.

[drakkar]

I am really curious to see how this plays out in the final version of Let Me In. Chloe Moretz seems to be more of a tomboy that Lina. Not that Moretz is the better actress, but that seems to be the type of role she is attracted to.

This has occurred to me too. If LMI pays tribute and attention to JAL's (and TA's??) ideas - so we can actually compare the two films, we might see the "effect" of a more androgynous Eli (And I will have to wait for the bd release, so I'll know perfectly well how it turned out when it's my turn to watch it.....)

[jellmoo]

I thought I recalled something to the effect that the kids weren't given the script before hand, and they were essentially given their lines before any given scene. Is it possible that Lina was simply playing the part to the best of her ability, not even knowing that Eli was a boy? And considering the way she was nailing the part, Alfredson decided to simply let her go and make it her own simply because it would make amazing cinema?

[genie47]

I thought I recalled something to the effect that the kids weren't given the script before hand, and they were essentially given their lines before any given scene. Is it possible that Lina was simply playing the part to the best of her ability, not even knowing that Eli was a boy? And considering the way she was nailing the part, Alfredson decided to simply let her go and make it her own simply because it would make amazing cinema?

There was discussion on this before. Highly possible that Lina knew Eli is "not a girl" when she was told to utter the lines "Oskar, I am not a girl."

[decltype]

We know Lina was/is into vampires, probably the very reason she applied for the role in the first place.

Actually, she didn't have a clue.

I thought I recalled something to the effect that the kids weren't given the script before hand, and they were essentially given their lines before any given scene.

Yes, Tomas would read the lines aloud for them right before the takes, so they could "learn them by ear", so to speak, and would often continue instructing them after the cameras had started rolling, much to the dismay of the audio people.

[jellmoo]

I thought I recalled something to the effect that the kids weren't given the script before hand, and they were essentially given their lines before any given scene. Is it possible that Lina was simply playing the part to the best of her ability, not even knowing that Eli was a boy? And considering the way she was nailing the part, Alfredson decided to simply let her go and make it her own simply because it would make amazing cinema?

There was discussion on this before. Highly possible that Lina knew Eli is "not a girl" when she was told to utter the lines "Oskar, I am not a girl."

It's certainly possible, but given the entirety of her performance, I think that it's equally as possible, if not more so that she had no idea at all. I guess there's only one young lady that can answer this one.

[gary13136]

I thought I recalled something to the effect that the kids weren't given the script before hand, and they were essentially given their lines before any given scene. Is it possible that Lina was simply playing the part to the best of her ability, not even knowing that Eli was a boy? And considering the way she was nailing the part, Alfredson decided to simply let her go and make it her own simply because it would make amazing cinema?

There was discussion on this before. Highly possible that Lina knew Eli is "not a girl" when she was told to utter the lines "Oskar, I am not a girl."

It's certainly possible, but given the entirety of her performance, I think that it's equally as possible, if not more so that she had no idea at all. I guess there's only one young lady that can answer this one.

Lina was not quite 12 when the movie was filmed. Even so, she would still be sexually-aware, and it would be difficult to believe that she wasn't somewhat familiar with the story even if she hadn't read it. The book was quite well known and no doubt it was discussed on the internet. You have to remember that she discovered this role on the internet. Quite possibly she even knew kids her age who would know about this story. When she said "Oskar, I'm not a girl" most likely she knew exactly what that meant. Also, would she have been excluded from seeing the finished movie before it was released to the public? But as far as Alredson's goal was, I believe that both he and Lindquist wanted to de-empasize the sexuality in the movie. They basically confirmed this by the comments they made in the UK DVD commentary.