Even though trans people have been around for millennia and even though they were officially acknowledged in the West in the early 20th century, it wasn’t until after the 1960s that trans-focused movies started being made. Even after that point, many popular movies tended to portray trans people – or those with gender dysphoria – as “troubled” or outright psychotic or “wrong”.
The countless examples include movies, such as Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), De Palma’s Dressed to Kill (1980), Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and many others.
Still, over time, movies depicting the true selves and reality of trans people started being made too, and nowadays there are numerous movies and TV shows we can point to that are great depictions of what being trans is like. Here, we’ll focus on movies only, with a quick list of the 8 greatest movies about trans people to date.
1. Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Directed by Kimberley Pierce, the 1999 masterpiece Boys Don’t Cry is not only a movie focused on the life of trans people, but a look at the dysfunctional “traditional gender norms” as a whole. What’s more, this is one of the few movies to follow the story of a trans man instead of a trans woman, since – like much of the public’s attention – most movies tend to focus on the latter rather than the former.
The movie is based on a true story too – that of Brandon Teena who was raped and murdered in Nebraska in 1993 once he was discovered as trans by a couple of his acquaintances. The movie stars Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as Brandon and follows his struggles with fitting in a society that would shun him the moment his secret is revealed.
2. Paris Is Burning
Directed by Jennie Livingstone, the 1990 Paris Is Burning is a documentary about the Latino and African-American people of all kinds of gender identities in New York. The movie explores the lives and reality of these people with both sensibility and humor, as they walked down the runways of NY’s glamorous balls and contests. It’s the type of movie that literally and often even accidentally broke the Fourth Wall in real and sad ways, as was the case of Venus Xtravaganza who was murdered while filming the movie.
3. In a Year of 13 Moons (1978)
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this 1978 movie is difficult to watch at times, especially for trans people. There is an argument to be made that its portrayal of sex reassignment surgery as “butchery” isn’t accurate anymore today, but the movie was made in the 1970s after all.
What is relevant even today, however, is the social challenges, stigma, and ostracisation trans people go through – both back then and today. Suffice it to say that this isn’t an “easy watch,” but the fact that it’s based on a true story from the personal life of the director makes it even more literally real.
4. The Crying Game (1992)
Directed by Niel Jordan, The Crying Game is a love story, but it’s also much more than that. The movie follows Dil, played by Jaye Davidson, and her experience being mixed with both the IRA and a murderous love triangle. A story that’s both more than just your ordinary “life of a trans person” pic, but also very much a trans story, The Crying Game surprised the audiences of the early 90s not only by being ahead of its time but by hiding it’s famous twist from them quite well. Fortunately for everyone, you don’t need to join the IRA for transgender dating today, as you can just go here instead.
5. All About My Mother (1999)
Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother included both cis women in trans roles and trans women in cis roles. More importantly, the movie as a whole focuses on the topic of womanhood and what it means to be a woman. The movie offers a very progressive and accurate look at this sensitive topic, as the story follows the character of Manuela who is looking for the father of her son, with the latter having recently passed away in a road accident.
What Manuela had never told her son, however, is that his father is a trans woman named Lola and is a sex worker.
6. Transamerica (2005)
Featuring Felicity Huffman in the main role of the trans woman Bree, this adventure comedy follows Bree’s road trip to visit her estranged 17-year-old son Tobby who has been jailed in New York.
Even though director Duncan Tucker didn’t cast a trans woman in the main role, the movie does feature a lot of prominent trans voices and is a generally kind-hearted and aware comedy that knows how to laugh with trans people and not at them.
7. Ma vie en rose (1997)
Ma vie en rose won the Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Film in 1997. Directed by Alain Berliner, the movie follows Ludo, a trans girl who struggles to convince those around her that she isn’t a boy. The movie goes over almost all aspects of coming out as a trans person and all the interpersonal drama that often follows.
8. Wild Side (2004)
Directed by Sébastien Lifshitz, this 2004 French-language romance drama focuses on the experience of trans sex worker Stéphanie. The movie premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and the lead role was given to the non-professional trans actress Stéphanie Michelini who very much made the role her own.
The story follows Stéphanie as she returns to small hometown because her sick mother needs help. With her mother still calling Stéphanie by her old name and the woman engaged in a relationship with both her roommates – an Algerian street worker and a Russian AWOL soldier – Stéphanie both encapsulates the sadness many trans people go through from being rejected by their loved ones, as well as the euphoria that is to “Walk on the Wild Side,” as Lou Reed’s song goes.
Of course, these eight are far from the only good examples out there, and we’ll hopefully get even more in the coming years. Plus, other mediums, such as TV, literature, music, comics, and more are also stepping up and trans-positive representation is slowly remedying, at least in part, many of the problems of the past.
