| Let Me Die a Woman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Doris Wishman |
| Produced by | Doris Wishman |
| Cinematography | João Fernandes Jack Malick |
| Edited by | Louis Burdi |
| Music by | Thomas Valentino |
Release date |
|
Running time | 79 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Let Me Die a Woman is a 1978 semidocumentary film concerning the lives of male-to-female transgender individuals, directed and produced by the exploitation film auteur Doris Wishman. [1]
The film contains interviews with the gender dysphoria pundit and caregiver Dr. Leo Wollman as well as transgender people, including the transgender rights activist Deborah Hartin. Between the interviews, there are staged dramatizations of the interviewees' experiences.
|
|
DVD Talk said of the film, "jaw-droppingly divine, completely original and purposefully obtuse, Let Me Die a Woman has long been the Mount Everest of many a Wishman fan. Who knew finding it and finally climbing it would be so remarkably rewarding." [2] Film critic Eivind Røssaak stated the film "must be one of the oddest, most honest documentaries ever made." [3]
Michael Brooke from Sight and Sound wrote "it was an almost flawless exploitation package, fusing old dark-house atmospherics, rubbish transvestism, genuine sex-change operation footage, hilariously awful dialogue and acting, and a glorious disregard for anything even vaguely resembling good taste." [4] Maitland McDonagh of Film Comment said the "footage of sexual reassignment surgery sent jaded Times Square habitués heading for the exit." [5]
