“Enigma”, a documentary that will arrive in HBO on Tuesday, details the glamorous, complex stories and sometimes tragic of two icons of the transgender community, although one of them has denied being transgender.
The film is immersed in the history of Le Carousel, a Parisian nightclub that became a safe space for transgender women to act in the 1950s and was frequented by famous artists and artists, including Salvador Dali and Edith Piaf.
April Ashley and Peki d’Eso were two of the popular artists of the club and also among the first trans women to undergo gender reassignment surgery, which Ashley, who died in 2021, discussed in the images of file interviews in the film.
His roads diverted after they left him carousel. Ashley became a Vogue model until she was taken as trans in 1961 and then went through a public and contentious divorce with her husband in 1970. The trial led a judge to legally declare her sex as a man, establishing a precedent that for decades defined the sex of trans people in the United Kingdom as sex of birth. Ashley, who made many public interviews about the case and its identity, became widely known as the trans icon.
Peki d’e only, on the other hand, did not use that name after leaving Le Carousel. Those who worked with her said that her name outside the stage was Amanda Tap and that she changed her last name to Lear by marrying a British architect in the 60s. For decades, Lear has faced questions about her identity, but has always denied the connection and the idea that she is transgender. He has also denied knowing Ashley, who said they were close friends.
In interviews with the director of “Enigma”, Zackary Drucker, Lear, now 85 years old, said that the photos of D’á only who look almost identical to her as a young model are not her, who never worked in Le Carousel, did not know Ashley and is not transgender. Drucker said he decided to show the two stories of women next to each other because Ashley’s story shed so much light on Amanda’s. ”
“You see the scale of the resistance that April experiences, and the way she is treated forever as a rarity because she is so clear about who she was,” said Drucker, describing Ashley as “a lighthouse of not being committed to a world determined not to be able to you.”
On the other hand, Drucker said, as a trans woman, he has felt indebted to the trans community, and the story of Lear is interesting for her because “I do not have something fascinating in someone who is like, ‘no, I will only be I. I will create who I am from scratch, and I have no treasury, I have no dye, there is no sense of responsibility for friendships, to historical facts’.
Drucker added: “It’s just one of the many survival strategies for people like us.”
A Lear representative did not immediately return a request for comments.
Drucker said that telling the story of Lear with sensitivity was “a dance.”
“I was totally creating something for which there have been no precedents,” Drucker said. “Amanda has asked these questions before, but not in a compassionate way, and not someone who loves her.”
Drucker said Lear was his “original archetype” when he was 18 years old and had the feeling that he was trans. She went to the library and printed a photo of Lear and put her on her wall, “realizing that she could be a beautiful woman one day.”
The questions that Lear often faced about the sex of his birth was exploiter, said Drucker, and yet Lear would use them for his advantage to generate more attention and press for herself. For example, his 1980 song “Fabulous (Lover, Love Me)” presents the playful letter “the surgeon built me so well that no one could say that once was another person.”
“She has used it, and that in itself is a lesson to navigate for advertising and media,” Drucker said. “She is a kind of master class in autoinvention.”
The documentary shows how Lear became a successful disco singer in the 70s and 80s and also developed a relationship with Dali.
Ashley opened a successful restaurant in London, and the legal precedent established for its divorce case was revoked by the United Kingdom Gender Recognition Law of 2004, which allowed trans people to change their sex in their birth certificate. Ashley was able to change its legal genre in 2005, just before turning 70 years.
“She established the pillars on which we find ourselves, of not being verified who you are and standing in your truth against all probabilities, even if you are swimming upstream,” Drucker said.
The documentary also presents interviews with the former artists of Le Carousel now in his 80 years, Marie-Pierre Pruvot, known as Bambi, and Carla Follis, who also goes through his artistic name, Dolly Van Doll. In addition, the film shows the artist and defender of Burlesque Allanah Starr, who described Bambi as a maternal figure, and the trans historian and trans activist with headquarters in London Morgan M. Page.
Drucker said he learned several lessons of talking with Lear, including that “knowing yourself is the work of a lifetime.”
The film presents interviews with trans women in generations and, as a result, Drucker said that it offers powerful perspectives for trans people today, since conservative leaders in the United States have promulgated a historical number of measures to restrict trans rights.
“This moment will happen,” said Drucker. “These women survived decades of opposition and resistance and were publicly humiliated again and again. These women are resilience monuments.”
She added: “We will find solutions, and the more we can see time, the more clear our tools.”
“Enigma” debuts on Tuesday at 9 pm et in HBO and will be available to transmit in HBO Max.
