You are here:

I Am a Woman Now

Name: I Am a Woman Now
Director: Michiel van Erp
Released: 2011
Duration: 80 min

Representation Score

6.9/10

Good

2011

Director

Michiel van Erp

Runtime

80 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Michiel van Erp’s documentary serves as a powerful act of historical reclamation. By focusing on the 1950s Casablanca clinic of Georges Burou, the film disrupts standard timelines of sexual liberation. It prioritizes the subjective truths and personal autonomy of five women. The film treats its subjects as human beings navigating aging and identity rather than historical anomalies. This approach offers a sophisticated look at how gender affirmation existed well before the mainstream movements of the 1960s. While the film is deeply humanistic, its racial diversity is somewhat limited by the focus on the European/French diaspora within a North African setting.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does I Am a Woman Now have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film focuses on the lives of transgender women without relying on medical curiosity. It honors the legacy of figures like Coccinelle, validating historical queer identities.

How does I Am a Woman Now portray gender?

Excellent

This documentary challenges traditional hierarchies by highlighting deliberate transitions from male to female. It emphasizes individual ability to act in reclaiming bodies and identities against mid-20th-century biological essentialism.

How racially and ethnically diverse is I Am a Woman Now?

Good

Set in Casablanca, the film showcases a cross-cultural intersection between French medical practices and North African geography. However, the primary subjects seem to belong to the European diaspora.

How does I Am a Woman Now represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative critiques institutionalized norms by emphasizing personal truth. It highlights individual liberation over traditional societal or religious expectations.

Does I Am a Woman Now include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not provide specific evidence regarding the portrayal of physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Present on Screen

Offers a high-level, intimate representation of transgender women's lived experiences.
Challenges traditional gender hierarchies and biological essentialism through personal narratives.
Disrupts conventional historical timelines regarding the onset of gender liberation.

Limited or Absent

Racial diversity is constrained by a primary focus on the European/French diaspora.
Lacks specific representation or discussion regarding physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Whoever wanted a sex reassignment surgery in the 1950's could do so in Casablanca, at French gynaecologist Georges Burou's clinic, without fear of psychological examination. The French transgender singer known as Coccinelle was one of the first to use Burou’s services, and many others followed. Michiel Van Erp’s film follows five women who underwent surgery during that time, just before the sexual revolution and the Gay Liberation movement of the 1960's. Intimate interviews reveal their lifestyle, what made them change their sex, how it influenced their lives, and how they cope with the unavoidable ageing.

How are these scores produced? →