Linda/Les & Annie: The First Female To Male Transexual Love Story (1989) +/-

A fascinating time capsule of the early era of f2m transition experience, presented in a tender, witty and explicit documentary format. Legendary erotic performance artist Annie Sprinkle narrates, in her familiar slutty/sweetgirl persona, the experience of her first sexual encounter with her lover and friend, transman Les Nichols. The film's narrative is framed by Annie writing to her diary, her sweet voice detailing the possibly shocking details of Les's story as well as the dimensions of their first sexual encounter. Parallel to this narrative of Annie's sexual encounter with Les is a slightly more conventional documentary profile of Les himself, complete with before and after pictures as well as a handful of talking head sequences in which Les describes what's different about experiencing society as a man in contrast to experiencing society as a butch lesbian separatist. The point of the film, however, seems to be showing Les's full monty -- showing how his phallus works and how he and Annie have sex. It's startling to see Les's surgical scars, both up top and down below, though -- as always -- Annie's a calming guide through potentially discomiting sexual terrain. Les's phallus is definitely of the old-school variety -- basically a smallish reconstructed flesh tube that requires the insertion of plastic rod to accomplish "erection." The film demonstrates the limits of what is (I believe) an outmoded technology, humorously depicting how Les and Annie deal with the appliance's not infrequent malfunction. It's startling to watch this film in 2008 -- not quite 20 years since its production -- and to realize how rapidly the shifts in language, consciousness and technology have informed my own understanding of f2m trans issues. Here, the novelty of f2m transness is the main alibi for the production -- a premise that would be utterly unthinkable for a comparably progressive production today. Same goes for the tragically late80s videographic flourishes. For all its dated limits as a consciousness raising tool, not to mention the visual cliches inadvertently evoked by its dated videography, the film remains a powerful document of trans-history, however, tenderly affirming the emotional imperative of the erotic in appreciating the dimensions of gender transition.