CARNAL NATION

What thrilled me most about the documentary Unraveling Michelle, which follows the ups, downs and in-betweens of MTF transsexual Michelle Ann Farrell as she transitions into her new life as a physically female being, has nothing to do with gender issues. No, the most subversive part of Michelle isn’t her tits, but her profession—indie filmmaker, her choice to turn the lens on herself merely an extension of her art form. Just as capable directing low-budget horror as she is reminding her cameraman to be sure to shoot wide during her surgery, Michelle’s most powerful statement is simply, “I want to be a female filmmaker.” From an early age the former Joe loved to play at being a girl, then became an elite hockey player in high school – not because Joe was in denial of his feminine side, but because he loved to play hockey and was great at it! This is the next step in the gender revolution (as it was in the sexual)—defining ourselves by who we are and not by any cookie cutter expectations of the mainstream. For electrolysis and facial reconstruction, red lipstick and high heels, are only as deep as icing on a cake.

When I spoke with Michelle briefly by phone before the July 23rd screening of the doc, co-directed by Dan Shaffer, at Cinema Arts Guild in Huntington, NY, one of the first things she told me was how surprised she’d been by the lukewarm response from the LGBT community to the film. “The enthusiasm is coming from the straights!” she exclaimed incredulously. Which didn’t surprise me at all, as I’d just interviewed director Maria Beatty for the upcoming issue of Filmmaker magazine, and she’d encountered a similar backlash on the gay and lesbian festival circuit with Bandaged, her “mainstream” debut executive produced by Abel Ferrara. For some who’d only known Beatty by the lesbian/BDSM films she’s been helming for the last fifteen years, Bandaged seemed neither queer nor subversive enough. Likewise, Unraveling Michelle doesn’t fit any easy media depiction of a MTF transgender person’s journey.“Though they treated us really well at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival,” Michelle added without hesitation.

But with thirteen features already under her belt, and screenings at First Glance in Philadelphia, where Unraveling Michelle won Best Biographical Documentary last year, and the Artsfest Film Festival, where it won Best Local Film, it seems Michelle is more a regional filmmaker than she is a LGBT director and subject. When I asked if a lifetime in Baltimore and that specific sensibility shaped her style as much as any gender issues did, she acknowledged that, yup, this head of Tough City Bitch productions was a proud Baltimorean through and through. And that she didn’t stop to ponder much about gender and its relation to filmmaking since she was just too busy working. “When I get up in the morning it’s mascara, a spray of perfume and I’m out the door. I’m thinking only about the camera and lighting–and my crew. It’s not about male or female, gay or straight. It’s about, ‘Can you do the job?’”

And that, in a nutshell, has to be the most transgressive declaration of all.