Out of the manyLGBTQIAfilms anddocumentariesemerging during Pride Month, Focus Feature’sEvery Bodyis among the finest. In this revealing look at the lives of intersex people, director Julie Cohen’s documentary, whichrecently wowed Tribeca Festival audiences, follows the personal journeys of three intriguing individuals who went from childhood shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to living authentic lives as adults.
Executive producers Elizabeth Fischer, Liz Cole, Andy Berg, and Noah Oppenheim give Cohen, who impressed withRBG, a lot of creative space to explore her subjects: actor/screenwriter River Gallo, political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel, and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall. The trio, now leaders in a quickly expanding global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries, are fascinating subjects. Equally interesting is how the filmmaker weaves into her story a puzzling case of medical abuse with NBC News archives footage. That inclusion filters into the already rich material here to explain today’s treatment of intersex people. It’s one ofmany facets that makeEvery Bodybold, dynamic, and worthy of our attention.
A Daring and Timely Film
River Gallo, Alicia Roth Weigel, and Sean Saifa Wall illuminate the screen inEvery Body.Their deeply personal revelations shine the light on the often-overlooked subset of the world’s population. Intersex people, we’re told here, comprise a tad more than one percent of individuals born with a condition that complicates a state’s ability to identify them with one of just two options found on hospital paperwork: male or female.
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In fact, across several segments of the film, director Julie Cohen reveals a sobering fact: That medical professionals typically advised parents of intersex children that they should raise their child as a boy or a girl because that would make things simpler on the child and the parents. As we move through one talking head to another — in addition to the doc’s main trio — we learn that there are many variants of intersex people, individuals born not 100 percent “male” or “female” or with atypical chromosomes or sex characteristics.
The problem is with being assigned a gender at birth that doesn’t reflect who they are, which creates puzzling ripple effects. Being assigned a “role” that one is to adhere to for a lifetime, despite one’s true nature, ultimately doesn’t work. To further complicate matters, even though an individual chooses how to identify, some states can overrule that choice. At a time when transgender rights are being compromised, this glorious film acts as botha passionate documentaryand required viewing.
The Doc’s Subjects Are Downright Compelling
The heart ofEvery Bodylies in its three intersex activists and their journeys. Collectively, they provide this outing with a necessary grounding, and their comments are illuminating. River Gallo, a non-binary and queer filmmaker/actor, should draw immediate interest here. With 2019’sPonboi,Gallo became the first openly intersex person to play an intersex character. It’s not just deeply moving to hear Gallo’s story, it’s an eye-opener.
Equally interesting is Sean Saifa Wall, who, at one point, boldly confronts the doctor who performed a gonadectomy on him when he was in his early teens, a procedure that was unnecessary. Alicia Roth Weigel’s book of essays,Inverse Cowgirl, gets some play here, too, and the courageous lobbyist’s work advocating for LBGTQIA rights is something to marvel. We need more people like this running things. The documentary doesn’t come out and say that, but it is bound to be what audiences feel to some degree by the time the credits role.
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One thing that stands out inEvery Bodyis how well director Julie Cohen handles a slew of facts. The historical and medical information featured here is rich in detail, yet it never weighs down the documentary. The director aptly balances the use of these facts, wonderfully splicing them between the three main narratives.
Other segments are bound to stir the heart, too. Audiences will appreciate when Cohen’s subjects are shown reacting to various factoids. And when video clips or photos of each subject are shared, we can see the dense emotional cloud hovering over them. In fact, at one point, we learn that Weigel’s doctor gave her a dildo at the onset of puberty in an effort to enlarge her vagina — for the inevitable day she and a man would have sex.
These deeply personal accounts add to Cohen’s already vivid tapestry. Fitting then that none of the subjects come across as powerless victims. Traumatized, sure, but they have each used their trauma valiantly to reclaim themselves and fight for the rights of others. As daring as it is riveting,Every Bodyarrives at the perfect time.
