Let Me Die a Woman (1974)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Doris Wishman

Writers:

Release Date:

16 November 1974 (Japan)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Born A Man... Let Me Die A Woman

Plot:

A documentary on the work of sex-change specialist Dr.Leo Wollman, including interviews with Dr.Wollman and a few of his patients...

Plot Keywords:

Sex Change | Interview | Genital Dismemberment | Medical Doctor | Anatomy

Cast

Dr. Leo Wollman	...	Himself
Leslie	...	Herself, Puerto Rican Transexual
Deborah Hartin	...	Herself
Lisa Carmelle
Frank Pizzo
Carol Sands
Billy Kelman
Doug Martin
Harry Reems	...	Cab driver (as Tim Long)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario - edited version) | USA:X | Australia:R (censored) | UK:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Hygiene Films

Trivia:

The film was rejected for UK cinema and only received a certificate in 1982 after extensive cuts of over 10 minutes.

Shania Twain said it best when she sung: "Man! I feel like a Woman!"

Some of her previous accomplishments (like "Deadly Weapons" and "Diary of a Nudist") already taught us that Doris Wishman isn't ranked very high on the list of filmmakers with good taste and moral values, but I never thought she would even dare to exploit people that struggled with sex and identity crises all their lives. "Let me die a Woman" is supposed to be a documentary (better say schlockumentary or even smutumentary), but it has very little educational or informative value. The film is a compilation of interviews with a Puerto Rican transsexual – "Last year, I was a man" – and allegedly scientific feedback from a sleazy guy I wouldn't allow near my body. Dr. Leo Wollman may perhaps be an authority in the field of sex-change operations, but he clearly doesn't feel comfortable when there's a camera aimed at him. His eyes turn towards everywhere except straight into the lens and his lines sound a little too much like they're being read from a large billboard in front of him. Still, his acting capacities are Oscar-worthy compared to some of the courageous patients that come to tell about their agonizing lives. There's one guy/lady, I think her name's Debbie, whose voice and facial expressions are truly unendurable. "Let me die a Woman" is a rancid and utterly shameless exploitation flick, and cult collectors should only watch it for the sake of morbid curiosity. It's really jaw-dropping how Dr. Wollman unscrupulously treats the transsexuals as study objects, like motionless life-sized dummies, and moves his filthy fingers over their genitals in order to point out how he turned their penises into vaginas. I don't know anything about this type of surgery, and I reckon it must be complicated undertakings, but most of the results looked truly hideous and even quite gross. Actually, they didn't look like vaginas but gateways into hell. The film is fairly short (80min.) but the last half hour feels annoyingly stretched, as Wollman repeats the same old things over and over again and even inserts a totally ridicule story about a guy who committed suicide because he didn't talk about his transsexual desires with anyone. Oh puh-lease!