Transsexuality and the Production of French Universalism: René Gaveau’s Adam est… Ève (1954)

During the 1950s, the newly-invented category of transsexualité was in the process of being defined. As the first French film about a character who changes sex, René Gaveau’s Adam est… Ève (1954) stages a new relation between the concept of French universalism and transsexuality. After her transformation, the main character Charlotte is welcomed into the nation, proving universalism’s success in the face of a new particularism. But to do so in this context, the film has to employ analogical relations to other forms of particularism (racial, ethnic, national) in support of its case.