ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

transgender

@SXSW – See You Then

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Reuniting with an old friend can be a wonderful time as you catch up on each other’s lives. But it can also be stressful when there are unaddressed issues from years before. All that is multiplied when it is not just an old friend, but a former lover. In Mari Walker’s film See You Then, making its debut at SXSW, this becomes even more complicated.

Fifteen years after suddenly leaving Naomi (Lynn Chen), Kris (Pooya Mohseni) has asked her to meet for dinner. At first, they just kind of catch up on what has been going on in their lives. The biggest thing is that this is the first time they’ve met since Kris transitioned to a woman. That, obviously, brings a very different context to their reunion. The dinner turns into a peripatetic night that moves from subject to subject as the two go from place to place.

From Kris we learn about the struggle that has defined her life, not just her life as a man, but the issues that she faced in her transition. At one point she says that her life only really began fourteen years ago. (A comment that is somewhat harsh in Naomi’s ears.) Even though she is now a woman, she feels disappointed at not being able to be a mother. She has always wanted to have a biological child.

Naomi, while being accepting and supporting, also harbors some serious pain and resentment over the way their relationship ended, and because she only learned about Kris’s transition from a third party. As the night progresses, the two women move back and forth between connection and confrontation. There are painful words that are spoken by each. And when the great reveal comes, it is something that brings pain that is soul-deep.

The film is directed by a trans woman as well is starring a trans woman. As I read the press notes, it is clear that they are bringing bits of themselves into the film. As such, it gives us some small insight into what it means to live a transgendered life. It is certainly not a simple concept to portray in a film. See You Then seeks to give us an emotive introduction to some of the many aspects of being transgendered. For me, the key line is spoken by Kris after Naomi has talked about her final performance art piece that was many years ago. Kris, knowing that Naomi should be doing more tells her not to “deny yourself something that you need.” That clearly seems to be a major theme in this reunion between Kris and Naomi. They each have things they need—not just in life, but from each other. So it is for all of us—whether cis, trans, gay, or queer.

Photos courtesy of Vanishing Angle.

3 Generations – Changing Lives

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“My whole life I searched my body for scars because I knew something was missing.”

It can be hard enough being a teenager, but for Ray it is complicated by being transgendered. At the beginning of the film he tells us his birthday wish each year is always the same: to have a boy’s body. 3 Generations is a sympathetic look at the obstacles that can be faced by transgendered people, even in very supportive families.

At 16, Ray (Elle Fanning) is anxious to begin receiving testosterone to being transitioning his body into the male he knows himself to be. He has been raised by his single mother Maggie (Naomi Watts), his lesbian grandmother Dolly (Susan Sarandon), and her longtime partner Frances (Linda Emond). When the time comes to sign the papers for the hormone therapy, Maggie, who has been supportive, begins to stall. They must also get the signature of her absent father (Tate Donovan) who doesn’t even know of Ray’s gender issues (and who now has another family).

Each of the characters has their own issues to deal with. Ray struggles to be accepted as a male. Even in his own family, Dolly wonders why he wouldn’t be just as happy as a lesbian (as she is). His mother’s reticence may be caused by her grief at the daughter she is losing. When his father comes into play, old issues and dynamics come to the surface.

The film is a look at some of the various forms of family that are playing out in society: single mother, same sex couple, multi-generational family in one house, traditional nuclear family. As Ray is seeking to transition his body, he must also try to understand his relationship in each of these settings and how that will also change as his body changes. So too, when we encounter all these various forms of family, we also find new ways that we understand ourselves vis à vis such family settings.

The house they live in is full of winding staircases. It is as if to tell us that there is not a straight line to be found. The twists and turns of life play out in this situation. In order to move to a solution to everyone’s issues will involve lots of changes in direction along the way. I think this is certainly true of the ways that society has been trying to deal with issues such as this. Even as we become more accepting of gays and lesbians (few would be offended by Dolly), transgender issues are something that are still much harder for many people to understand and accept. 3 Generations seeks to offer us a chance to encounter what it can mean for someone and their family to face the kind of life changing transition involved in moving from one gender to another, and in that encounter we may find ways to better understand the needs of those who face such changes.

Photos courtesy of The Weinstein Company

The Danish Girl: Finding One’s True Self

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“It doesn’t matter what I wear. It’s what I dream. They’re Lili’s dreams.”

The Danish Girl opens in Copenhagen in 1926. Einar and Gerda Wegener (Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander) are artists who are very happily married. Einar is a successful landscape painter, while Gerda struggles as a portrait artist. One day, with a deadline looming, Gerda asks Einar to model a dress and shoe. The experience triggers a gender confusion in Einar. When, as a lark, Gerda dresses Einar as a woman to go to a party, the back and forth between male and female identity escalates. Soon Einar is going out surreptitiously as Lili and begins to view his true identity as a woman. Soon two personae emerge. Einar and Lili have two very different lives.

There is a minor trend in media of stories of transgendered persons—people who identify as a gender other than is manifested in their physical body. Now there are procedures and surgeries that allow people to become who they see as their true selves. We have rules for how to treat transgendered people in school. But when Einar/Lili had to deal with that struggle, the word “transgender” did not even exist. The only explanations most people had were either moral outrage or psychological pathology. Lili eventually became the first person to undergo sexual reassignment surgery—risking her life to live the life she believed was hers.

The Danish Girl is at its heart a love story. Einar and Gerda are very much in love. As Einar transitions to Lili, that love is often tested, but it overcomes those difficulties as Gerda serves as Lili’s key support in the very difficult situation. Watching Lili kiss a man is a very challenging event for Gerda. She simultaneously sees her husband and his alter ego. Within that love story there is also a story of grief, because as Lili becomes the dominant manifestation, Einar is in effect dying. Lili, as much as Gerda loves her, is not her husband whom she has loved for many years. Einar and Gerda had a very collaborative life as artists, but when Lili emerges, she is not an artist. She does however serve as a muse for Gerda.

I think one of the difficulties in watching a film about someone who is transgendered is that it is very difficult for those of us who have an internal gender that matches our assigned gender to truly understand what that is like and the pain associated with the conflict within. When Lili and Gerda meet with the doctor who will perform surgery on her, she tells him, “This is not my body, Professor. Please take it away.” Because all this can seem so strange to viewers, I think it makes Gerda the more sympathetic character. We may feel Einar/Lili’s suffering, but we can much more identify with the pain that Gerda must deal with.

Compassion is the key quality that this film seeks to instill in viewers. By having compassion for Lili, we learn to have compassion for other transgendered persons. By watching Gerda’s compassion for Einar and Lili we understand that compassion is not an easy task. Sometimes the act of being compassionate is not superficial, but rather must be pulled up from the depths of our souls if it is to find expression.

Photos courtesy Focus Features