This french gem is exceptional in several ways. According to me this is one of the better movies released in 2011.
It's so unpretentiously filmed with no obvious petty morals or message, despite the fact that it concerns a subject that today is more widely discussed then ever; sex property.

*10-year old Laure (Zoe Heran) is what you call a tomboy, but in in an even further way. She has her hair cut very short, prefers wearing boy's clothes and playing with boys. She have a problem identifying herself as a girl, despite her mom crying out for her to tone down her "boyishness" a bit. Her younger sister Jeanne is the total opposite of Laure with long curly hair, apple cheeks and pink dresses. Despite the difference between the sisters their is a strong bound between them, even though Laure doesn't always agree that Jeanne follows her out and plays with her.
The plot takes off when Laure moves with her mom and sister to a new neighborhood during summer holiday. Laure then takes the decision to live out the way she's always wanted; as a boy. She introduces herself for the kids in the neighborhood as Mikaël, and instantly gets a very high "status" among the boys, as the toughest, strongest and fastest kid. She also falls in love with a girl in her same age, called Lisa.
Laure's sister Jeanne realizes that Laure is "Mikaël" among the other kids and plays along with that lie under the condition that she is allowed to play with Laure and the other older kids.
One day, Jeanne is pushed by another older boy on purpose ("for being annoying"). Laure immediately rushes, and furiously beats down the boy.

This leads to the end of Laure's act. The boy tells his mom that "Mikaël" has beaten him, so his mom directly goes and visits Laure's mom who initially gets confused since she doesn't have a son named Mikaël, only a daughter named Laure. When she understands how things been going on, Laure pretending to be a boy, she gets infuriated and forces Laure to visit all her friends and tell how the real matter is, in a dress. The question that comes afterwards is if her friends despite everything, will accept Laure for who she is.*

I think this is a great movie, which touches many important issues. There are several many moving scenes, and I think the interacting, the scenes when Laure's playing around with her younger sister who she loves very much, are look very authentic. Then there is this very upsetting scenes, when we sees her mom's reaction about her lies, hitting her and forces her to wear a dress and tell her friends the truth, that scene gets very involving (and you can ask yourself how cruel her mom could be forcing her to wear a dress, which obviously is a punishment and an extremely humiliating thing for Laure, on top of everything!).
Anyway, I strongly recommend this movie for everyone.