Between Two-Spirit
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Chris feels neither man nor woman, but more like a 'Two-Spirit' in between genders. Now turning sixty, this professor of management is taking the big plunge. This sensitive film follows one eventful year in Chris Muth's life, from an operation in Thailand to an eventual return home to Switzerland, where Chris will become Christa. Director Laurence Perigaud gives a highly sensitive and humorous account of this year of transition and transformation-body and soul-of a human being in quest of freedom.
'Chris's quest for femininity is filmed by anthropologist Laurence Perigaud, who brings a trained eye to the story from his dramatic transformation into Christa.' -L'Espress
'Directed with simplicity and delicacy, this documentary defies stereotypes as it documents a person story of emancipation.' -Le Matin
Citation
Main credits
Périgaud, Laurence (film director)
Périgaud, Laurence (film producer)
Périgaud, Laurence (editor of moving image work)
Périgaud, Laurence (cinematographer)
Muth, Christa (interviewee)
Other credits
Camera, Laurence Périgaud, Lilo Wullschleger; music, Marc Antoine-Zufferey.
Distributor subjects
Aging; Anthropology; Biographies; Biology; Gay Studies; Health Care Issues; Human Sexuality; Lesbian StudiesKeywords
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When we started
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27 years ago, the patient very low class,
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very low education, so
low economy, sociology,
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and since then, you know,
after the people, you know,
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realized that this can make the patient
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have the normal life. So the higher group
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of the… of the… the patient coming
out… we have all kind of patient
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from the lawyer, engineer, banker,
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doctor, medical doctors
and… and (inaudible).
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We have all kinds of (inaudible)
patient more than 15 years old.
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The oldest of patient we did is
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73 years old.
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He\'s checking.
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(inaudible) is sexy.
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Twelfth floor.
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(inaudible).
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Okay. Thank you very much. My colleague
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already explained to you
about how we\'re gonna do
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(inaudible) and so now we could
go through together here…
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Yes, I wanted to discuss with you
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because this one is not seen by everybody
all day long but this one here…
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Yeah, everyday. Actually…
actually right now
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because of the hormone
and you… your complexion
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very feminine, very, very… Do you find so?
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Yeah, very. Yeah, what I am going to do…
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I\'m gonna shape this one, take out this one
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and lift up this face, and shape the bone.
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Upper and lower, lower that hairline,
shape the bone here. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
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Okay. I see you in the hospital. Yes.
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Okay. They\'re coming. Mercedes coming.
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Chris, all right.
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Are you better? Mm-hmm.
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See you.
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Bye-bye. Bye.
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Okay. Thank you.
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We understand these things
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out all too well as a close member of our
family has gone through a similar process.
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In the car he told me that
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he had finally decided
that he was going to have
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the transgender operation and they
had a timetable and it was definite.
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And I nearly drove off the road.
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My initial reluctance was based on
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my abhorrence of
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unnecessary surgery. I was led to
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sort of argue… My opinion,
but at the same time to say,
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this opinion is not really worth very
much because I am not able to stand
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in your shoes.
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Professor Muth. Hey, Mike. So
my normalizations kindle is
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by end of this week, coming out
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and everything is finished,
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included… included a thanking mails
for people, sending me encouragement
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and, you know. So starting next
week, work once it\'s finished
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and end of April, I have my last…
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My last things to do, you know,
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passport and things like that,
and then it\'s finished.
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Two or three people said in
a very straightforward way,
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he doesn\'t look in the
slightest bit like woman,
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and I as a loyal friend, I said, \"Not yet.
Unless I know
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what will happen as you know, but ask
his hair dresser, ask is friends
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who have given him advice on
makeup and so on and so on,\"
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but among there are non-believers.
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And then… then you started this
long path of educating yourself
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how to dress in… But I
have a number of friends
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and even a wife who are interested in
helping you in this… in this path.
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Please tell them all, I
would heartily welcome
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this kind of advisors, so I will do it. So
there\'s… there\'s a huge change then. Yeah, yeah.
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As a… as a female you\'re going to listen. Yeah.
Where as when you were a man, you would…
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I… I have to tell you I
changed several things
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in my basic… in my basic proclamation.
I… the Hitler mode code
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were permanently deleted. Uh…
It\'s not possible to attempt.
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Well, that\'s nice. Seriously good news.
I have to… I… I have substituted
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with… with Thatcher mode code, but…
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I guess the good news is that
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he has a core group of loyal
friends who don\'t care,
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but he is… he on a daily basis,
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he\'s just Chris or Christa inside and
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he\'s just as interesting and
as crazy as he was before.
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Oh my God!
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[non-English narration]
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[sil.]
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And why did it take you 60
years to figure it out?
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No, not… It didn\'t take 60 years to
figure it out. I knew since I was
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probably two years old or so.
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Sixty years and 30,000 for it\'s francs
and several thousand kilometers.
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And so much suffering. Yeah,
yeah, it\'s true. It\'s true.
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It has been… the worst suffering
has… has… is not probably not been
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the… the surgery by itself or so. But
the worst suffering that through
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(inaudible) was to take
off the… the (inaudible).
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This was… this was really horrible.
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Chris charges me five francs,
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whenever I refer to her
him in the masculine
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and I\'m wondering how he tells of you,
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when… when you say he is your spiritual
father. Well, you… you have to pay
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a thousand francs a year or something.
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