Billie’s (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) family may not always be united, but with each member possessing their own assertive personality, a lack of communication isn’t usually something they have to worry about. So, when the parent that birthed her summons the courage to share that they’re intending to undergo gender reassignment, Billie takes it in her stride. ‘I get it, Mum. You feel like a man. You want to become a man. You need a bit of space.’

Asked to move in with her father for a year, Billie accepts on the condition that she and the newly renamed James (Del Herbert-Jane) will make time to meet every Tuesday night.

Only a teenager, however, Billie is still in the midst of self-discovery, soon finding herself increasingly fascinated not only by her own feelings, but also by how others perceive and develop their identities, both physically and emotionally. Attracted by two sexually explorative schoolmates (Sam Althuizen and Imogen Archer), she enters a covert three-person relationship. Meanwhile, facing the struggles and setbacks of transition, James begins to keep secrets of his own.

Shot on handheld camera, 52 Tuesdays often carries a feeling of closeness, the frame tightly capturing moments of emotional and physical intimacy – be it between characters, or James and the unwelcome yet inherently tactile connection he has with his own body. Yet the film also knows when to keep its distance, first time feature director Sophie Hyde using this regular proximity to emphasise the isolation felt when the shots unexpectedly widen.

Dealing deftly and sensitively with several difficult subjects, the film is commendable on a number of levels, but it is not free from certain structural weaknesses. Billie’s video diaries, spotlighted in front a grey background, feel a little on the nose at points, an oversimplified externalisation of her inner musings – and the same can be said for a scene in which James vocalises his disbelief that he’s already lucky enough to be ‘pleasuring a beautiful woman’.

Similarly, as the tension mounts, so too does the occasional staginess, sometimes revealing shortcomings in the script (an incident involving a hijacked psychiatric appointment feels entirely unnatural), other times in the acting (Beau Travis Williams is somewhat hit-and-miss in his portrayal of Billie’s father).

For the most part, however, 52 Tuesdays is a carefully considered and smartly delivered look at both individuality and growth – a story about those moments that make us who we are. As the film goes on, the subtitles signposting the number of each Tuesday gradually disappear; when you’re learning how to live, who has time to count?