In his first male role Elliot Page stars in “Close to You” as, appropriately, a trans man.

Page’s Sam, after a four-year absence, is anxiously going back home for his father’s birthday celebration where his gender reassignment has disrupted familial dynamics.

Along the way he runs into Katherine (Hillary Baack), a once-close high school friend.

Page, 37, who transitioned in 2020, conceived the story with the English writer-director Dominick Savage, 61, and also has a producer credit.

“Close to You” chronicles a personal journey for Sam that seems, in many ways, to have similarities with Page. True?

“Gosh, I think some of the themes and whatnot are personal in a way,” he said in a Zoom interview. “Of course we share the same identity. We both happen to be trans men.

“But in terms of familial dynamic” – which onscreen is often tense, explosive, tearful – “it’s quite different from my experience.

“I can understand why maybe someone would feel that, watching it or seeing the trailer. But it’s quite different from my experience.

“Of course,” he added, “aspects of wanting to feel seen, of just certain moments where you see this character navigating family, or people who are well intentioned but just not getting it quite, I have lived experience where those situations are familiar to me I suppose.

“But I wouldn’t necessarily call the story itself, like super personal. If that makes sense, right?”

The director’s method is unique, being wholly improvisational.  Savage does not believe in scripting lines or dialogue. He expects his cast, in the moment, to speak and convey whatever is happening or needs to be explained.

For Page, an actor since childhood with Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, this was a first.

“This was new and exciting. Leading up to it — I’ll speak for the other actors as well, because someone would be coming in on their first morning and I could sense this nervousness.”

He would tell them, “I totally get it. I was feeling that way too. And I promise you, we’re going to get on set and it’s going to blow your mind, how we all just disappear into this.

“And that thing is totally what happened. Dominic puts the cast together (as well as the crew together) and really creates this environment where you feel free and you don’t feel judged.

“You don’t feel like, Oh no, am I going to make a mistake? Am I not going to know what to say? That really goes out the window.

“I just remember the first day being like, Oh wow!

“Because we just kind of lost ourselves in it. And it was amazing.”

“Close to You” opens Friday