There are a lot of unintentional laughs in the first third of this film. The acting, in general, is atrocious and the script isn't much better. That said, I felt sorry for the person who became Christine Jorgensen. As a man, he was constantly bullied and insulted. As a woman, she was laughed at and joked about. But nonetheless she survived. It's as if a circus act had left the circus and taken his/her chances in the wild.
The story tries to cram as much of Christine's life into a little under 90 minutes as possible, with a heavy focus on George's boyhood and young adulthood. John Hansen, who had a very pretty face and a lilting voice, actually looked prettier as a man than he did as a woman. As a woman, I felt they really did Christine a disservice because the hairstyle really accented John's squarish face. It basically looked like a man in a wig and a dress. This despite one extremely shocking scene where we are shown Christine's blossoming breasts, and they looked incredibly realistic. Not sure how they did that, because they also show us a scene of George in the shower when he's in the military, and he definitely did not have breasts.
The movie does not shy away from explaining, in clinical detail, exactly what would happen to George if he agreed to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. As the doctor who ultimately performed the surgery said when George signs the consent form, "You have courage." (This is all done in Denmark, since American hadn't gotten with the program yet.)
Once George becomes Christine, the movie doesn't really know what to do with her. She spends a lot of time with her understanding Aunt Thora, but it becomes clear that Christine did not anticipate that she was going to become a freak show and be hounded by the media for the rest of her life.
The story does try to show the impact that Christine's decision has on her father, who, it seemed, really loved George and had a very difficult time accepting the fact that George had become Christine. There is actually a short scene where a very progressive pastor comes by to buoy the father's spirits and to tell him, in so many words, that Christine is now his daughter and that she is deserving of his love.
Speaking of love, because Christine had become a "beautiful woman," they have to give her a romance, which they do in the form of a journalist, "Tom." Tom only knows Christine, not George, and he falls in love with Christine. It's Christine that has not seemed to accept what she has done. At a certain point in the movie I thought, "Okay Christine, you've done it. Now what are you going to do? Walk around your aunt's apartment in pretty clothes all day?"
Finally Christine and Tom return to America, where of course Christine is peppered by the incredibly stupid, cruel and juvenile "questions" from obnoxious reporters who think her life is some kind of joke. The movie was made in the 1970s about something that happened in the 1950s. Look at us now; are things any better? Not much. The hatred toward transsexual people seems to be at an all-time high. In this movie, we see the brave journey of someone who did not feel comfortable in the skin they were born in. It is not a well made movie, it looks like it was made cheaply, and the last part in particular all sounds horribly dubbed (especially Christine's voice, which sounds like it's been filtered through an echo chamber).
That said, if you watch it, try to put all the cheap touches and bad decisions out of your mind and try to imagine the hell it must have been for this man to embrace the woman that he knew he was.
The story tries to cram as much of Christine's life into a little under 90 minutes as possible, with a heavy focus on George's boyhood and young adulthood. John Hansen, who had a very pretty face and a lilting voice, actually looked prettier as a man than he did as a woman. As a woman, I felt they really did Christine a disservice because the hairstyle really accented John's squarish face. It basically looked like a man in a wig and a dress. This despite one extremely shocking scene where we are shown Christine's blossoming breasts, and they looked incredibly realistic. Not sure how they did that, because they also show us a scene of George in the shower when he's in the military, and he definitely did not have breasts.
The movie does not shy away from explaining, in clinical detail, exactly what would happen to George if he agreed to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. As the doctor who ultimately performed the surgery said when George signs the consent form, "You have courage." (This is all done in Denmark, since American hadn't gotten with the program yet.)
Once George becomes Christine, the movie doesn't really know what to do with her. She spends a lot of time with her understanding Aunt Thora, but it becomes clear that Christine did not anticipate that she was going to become a freak show and be hounded by the media for the rest of her life.
The story does try to show the impact that Christine's decision has on her father, who, it seemed, really loved George and had a very difficult time accepting the fact that George had become Christine. There is actually a short scene where a very progressive pastor comes by to buoy the father's spirits and to tell him, in so many words, that Christine is now his daughter and that she is deserving of his love.
Speaking of love, because Christine had become a "beautiful woman," they have to give her a romance, which they do in the form of a journalist, "Tom." Tom only knows Christine, not George, and he falls in love with Christine. It's Christine that has not seemed to accept what she has done. At a certain point in the movie I thought, "Okay Christine, you've done it. Now what are you going to do? Walk around your aunt's apartment in pretty clothes all day?"
Finally Christine and Tom return to America, where of course Christine is peppered by the incredibly stupid, cruel and juvenile "questions" from obnoxious reporters who think her life is some kind of joke. The movie was made in the 1970s about something that happened in the 1950s. Look at us now; are things any better? Not much. The hatred toward transsexual people seems to be at an all-time high. In this movie, we see the brave journey of someone who did not feel comfortable in the skin they were born in. It is not a well made movie, it looks like it was made cheaply, and the last part in particular all sounds horribly dubbed (especially Christine's voice, which sounds like it's been filtered through an echo chamber).
That said, if you watch it, try to put all the cheap touches and bad decisions out of your mind and try to imagine the hell it must have been for this man to embrace the woman that he knew he was.