Synopsis
A portrait of one of the leading theoreticians of gender studies, a discipline taught in American universities and dealing with sex and gender as a social and historical issue rather than a biological and natural one. Professor of comparative literature and rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, Judith Butler is a pioneering intellectual, figurehead of the gay and lesbian movements. She advocates a far-reaching revolution of thought at the meeting point of anthropology, sociology and philosophy.
A word from Tënk
This films does justice to the scope of Butler’s intellectual endeavour. We discover a personality intensely driven by their questions, both precise and subversive, and who rejects any facile controversy. The documentary is driven by the energy of its protagonist, and we are totally electrified. More than once, the loftiness of their point of view and their agility to tease out the problems that trouble our times impress and overwhelm us.
The “trouble” is a hyper-operative concept: gender is a source of anxiety for everyone, including heterosexuals, since the categories of masculine and feminine are fundamentally impossible to embody perfectly. Gender is forever doomed to fail (“I’m always other to myself”). With these observations, things can be rethought, and perhaps the world can even reinvent itself.
Arnaud Lambert
Filmmaker
