I Am My Own Woman
I Am My Own Woman | |
---|---|
Directed by | Rosa von Praunheim |
Written by | Valentin Passoni |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Lorenz Haarmann |
Edited by | Mike Shephard |
Music by | Joachim Litty |
Production company | Rosa von Praunheim Filmproduktion |
Release date | 1992 |
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | Germany |
Language | German |
I Am My Own Woman (
Plot
The trans woman Charlotte von Mahlsdorf recounts incidents from her eventful life. Now elderly, she runs the Gründerzeit Museum, fulfilling her dream of living as a woman from the turn of the 20th century. Scenes of her life are dramatized. Two actors play the young and middle-aged Charlotte and she plays herself in old age.
Life was difficult for Charlotte, growing up as Lothar Berfelde in
Back in Berlin, after the death of a great uncle, the young Lothar is found at the complete mercy of his brutal father. Trying to save his mother and himself from his father's punishments and threats, Lothar bludgeons his father to death, a crime for which he is psychiatrically evaluated and imprisoned. The defeat of Germany during the war and the Allied invasion sets the boy free. Wandering through the street of Berlin, he barely escapes being killed as a deserter by German soldiers.
By 1946 Lothar has come to identify herself as a feminine being in a masculine body. She lives now full-time as a woman under the name Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, "Charlotte" or "Lottchen" being similar to Lothar, and Mahlsdorf referring to the section of Berlin where she lives. She moves into the destroyed Friedrishfelde castle and spends years and a lot of hard work trying to restore it. But eventually, she is expelled by the East German authorities. Working as a domestic in the household of Herbert von Zitzenau, an elderly equestrian officer, she is seduced by her employer and they start a sexual relationship. She explains that she preferred older lovers feeling protected by them the way women do. That affair lasted several years until Zitzenau's health declined and death.
Even though life for gays is difficult under the communist regime of East Germany, they find their way around. Cruising a public restroom, Charlotte meets Joechen, a lover with whom she could be a real woman. Their relation with sadomasochistic role-playing last for 27 years until Joechen's death.
For more than 30 years Charlotte manages to live her life as a woman in East Germany. She preserves the entire contents of
Cast
Two actors play the young and middle-aged Charlotte, and she plays herself in the later years.
- Charlotte von Mahlsdorf - Herself
- Jens Taschner – Lothar age 15-17
- Ichgola Androgyn - Charlotte age 20-40
- Robert Dietl - Herbert von Zitzenau
Awards
1993:
Reception
"A moving picture." (Cinema Journal, 1992)[4] "A celebration! Powerful, dramatic and original!" (Gay Times)[4] "Anything but conventional!" (New York Times)[4]
Notes
- ^ "ICH BIN MEINE EIGENE FRAU". Mubi. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ Kuzniar, The Queer German Cinema, p. 111
- ^ "Rosa von Praunheim". International Federation of Film Critics. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
- ^ a b c "ICH BIN MEINE EIGENE FRAU". Cinema Journal, 1992. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
References
- Kuzniar, Alice A, The Queer German Cinema, Stanford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8047-3995-1
External links
- Ich bin meine eigene Frau at IMDb