A few days ago, Mikki commented that Mehdi Dehbi in the film He’s My Girl “does the best job of female impersonation I’ve ever seen in a film. Unlike very many of these films, there’s no reason to go into ‘deliberate suspension of belief’ when perceiving Naim/Habiba as a female.”
Lee Pace in Soldier’s Girl
I admit that my trans-radar did not sound off immediately when I first saw Mehdi Dehbi in that film and he should receive two bra cups up for his femulation. On the other hand, there are other film femulations that can compete with Mehdi Dehbi.
Lee Pace in Soldier’s Girl, Romain Duris in The New Girlfriend and Matthias Schweighöfer in Woman in Love come to mind immediately and I am sure there are others that are just as good. (For a long time, I thought Tony Curtis’ femulation in Some Like It Hot was excellent until I discovered that his very female voice was dubbed in – by a man, Paul Frees.)
That’s just my opinion. So who do you think was an excellent film femulator? Let us know in the Comments below.
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| Wearing Retro Stage |
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| Matthias Schweighöfer femulating in the 2011 German film Woman in Love (Rubbeldiekatz). |
I may be naive, but Jaye Davidson had me fooled in Crying Game
ReplyDeleteI do wonder about Lee Pace. He's possibly a borderline non-civilian, in that he's not neccesarily a frequent femulator, but he has worn skirts in public while presenting as male. And in the Foundation Saga, his character the very male Emperor wears dresses although in the world of the series, these are common male fashions.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=lee+pace+the+foundation+&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiF4-LC67P4AhVHjOAKHQeWA6wQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=lee+pace+the+foundation+&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJ1D8BVj8BWC-B2gAcAB4AIABrgGIAc8CkgEDMC4ymAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=qRysYsXqG8eYggeHrI7gCg&bih=649&biw=1366#imgrc=DOQexQyfQp1dIM
For me the best ever femulation was by Jaye Davidson as Dil in "The Crying Game". He was so good that he was nominated for various movie awards (which he didn't win) and his performance was rated in the top 100 of all time. He found that he didn't like fame and gave it all away after only a couple more films.
ReplyDeleteStana, I 100% agree with you about Lee Pace, tho Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto , Jaye Davidson in "The Crying Game" and Brian Deacon in "The Triple Echo" were also very good. I cant name them all but an honourable mentions to the men who played female drag queen parts in the Australian tele series Carlotta. Special kudos to Adrian Pasdar in "just Like a Woman"
ReplyDeleteSteven Mackintosh in Different for Girls, UK 1997
ReplyDeleteHe looked okay, but the problem was his ludicrous, nasally girl-voice. And this is Steven Mackintosh, who has a lovely voice usually, one of Britain's most in demand voiceover men.
DeleteHe came across more as a femboy than a woman if that makes sense.
1) Had to look up "He's My Girl" because there was a comedy in the 80's with that same title - I have seen both, and TK Carter didn't do such a great femulation job.
ReplyDelete2) My vote goes to Adrian Pasdar in "Just Like A Woman"
3) I have been looking for a way to watch "Woman In Love" (Rubbeldiekatz) but have been unable to locate it anywhere - streaming or on DVD.
Woman In Love is on YouTube.
DeleteWow! Thanks for sharing!
Deleteamazon has Rubbeldiekatz in many formats Chris1
Deletecillian murphy in "breakfast on pluto"
ReplyDeleteA look behind the scenes interview wit Lee Pace for Soldiers girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ga604TFzc
ReplyDeleteWith this many people helping out I'm sure most of us could look this good.
I went back to YouTube to find the Lee Pace transformation video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ga604TFzc only to find Pamela had done the same thing. Regardless of the "help", Pace did movement and voice exceptionally well. I suppose I've seen too many Roman Duris films to put his femulation on a top tier -- but he was very good. I have yet to see "Rubbeldiekatz". I'm still VERY impressed with Cillian Murphy in both "Breakfast on Pluto" and "Peacock". Like Dehbi, outside his femulations he's a manly man. Amazing contrast!
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not forget Adrian Pasdar in "Just Like A Woman"...
ReplyDeleteWould also like to mention Adrian Pasdar in "Just Like A Woman" as well. What a wonderful movie that really touches on ladies like us.
ReplyDeleteThree films from the European scene
ReplyDeleteGirl and Lola vers la Mer from Belgium and, from France, Miss. I haven’t seen The Danish Girl mentioned
Lily
Not quite the the silver screen, but on television, I thought Patrick Walshe McBride in BBC's Shakespeare and Hathaway looked amazing.
ReplyDeletehttps://i.pinimg.com/originals/6f/c6/98/6fc6986c1e65628f6abe6e2d6265aee5.jpg
I've seen stills from this episode, but cannot locate the show to watch!
DeleteIt is on Amazon Prime.
DeleteIt might still be on BBC iPlayer as well. You'd need to be UK based to watch that, though. Well, unless BBC America have some deal on.
DeleteCillian Murphy did an amazing job in Breakfast On Pluto but the character was such a flake that I would not recommend it to a civilian. And on that note, I wouldn’t be surprised if Murphy was not a civilian, he just has natural features that would be wasted otherwise!
ReplyDeleteAngela, check out Cillian Murphy in "Peacock". At the start, the withdrawn bank clerk (John) dons women's clothing when he (Emma) comes home from work as a sort of fetish, and channeling his dominating mother. While Emma was doing "women's work" on a weekend there is a terrifying incident that exposes Emma to the public, and she begins to morph into a more femme dressed woman. It's an interesting transition, did Emma finally find herself, or does she become her mother? Murphy again is excellent as a woman.
DeleteBra 🍵 X2 for U !!!
ReplyDeleteThe TV reference made me think about two series from long ago. The John Larroquette Show had a regular character who was a drag queen/hooker who hung around the bus station. She was very good looking, but I can't think of her name to save my life. On "NIght Court", Jim Bailey did a drag character, and Jim Bailey always looked very good.
ReplyDeleteThere were two - Jazzmun and Teddy (David Shawn Michaels, had to look it up), both used more in the first season. Don't know why they phased them out, especially Michaels went from recurring to zero fast
DeleteChristopher Morley seem to remember him in a few things ?
ReplyDeleteEvan Peters in Gardens of the Night.
ReplyDeletePlaying a non-binary/trans teen hooker in a Virgin Mary stained glass window one-shoulder top, very convincing using his own hair too (he's since done drag in American Horror Story - but it wasn't quite as good as it could have been as he was contractually obliged to keep his stubble cos of his role as Dahmer).
What a lovely girl in a lovely green polka dot dress.
ReplyDeletePenny from Edinburgh.