Story of sex change

The film treads new ground, breaking psychological barriers

"IT’S amazing, that plastic surgery can heal a mental disorder," is one of the lines thrown up in Transamerica, a stunning, revealing story of sex change. Another is "we’re not gender challenged, we’re gender gifted." In fact there is so much about the grey frontiers of sex that GG, which stands for genuine girl, is a bit of a rarity.

Getting ready for the final snip that will make her womanly transformation complete, Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne’s (Felicity Huffman) life takes a sudden turn when she is called to New York because her son Toby (Kevin Zagers) has been jailed. In the first place, she wasn’t aware that she had a son. In the second, it is imperative that she meets him if the sex change process is to be completed.

She agrees. But from then it is an "on the road" movie with two polar opposites trying to hit it off and bridge the vast gulf between. Posing as a Christian missionary Bree bails her son who was in possession of drugs. Toby is a gay hustler who wants to be a porn star on the West Coast.

It is a bumpy ride on the road to discovery as these two characters fight each other but stick together because they need each other.

From the opening shot when Bree is testing the voice she wants to use to the many misadventures they encounter on the road it is obvious that Bree’s problem is as much psychological as it is physical. Having to cope with a pot pulling, smoking, free-loving son doesn’t make it easier. But this misadventure also brings out her motherly instincts.

The film treads new ground, breaking psychological barriers but the battle within to free herself of her male persona comes across strongly. Felicity Huffman, popular because of her role in the TV serial Desperate Housewives, is brilliant as the confused "mother" and is matched blow by blow by Kevin Zagers who is super cool most of the time. But the fare is funny, serious, revealing and not without pathos—a learning experience.

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