Bambi: A French Woman

Algeria in the 1930s: Marie-Pierre Pruvot is assigned a different name and a male gender at birth. Even in her childhood, she notices that she prefers to wear dresses rather than pants. At the age of 17, her life takes a major turn when she has an epiphany while watching a famous drag show on tour: le Carrousel de Paris. She moved to Paris, joined the troupe, became BAMBI and within a few years established herself as a legendary figure of the Parisian cabaret scenes of the 50s and 60s. But her extraordinary journey didn't stop there. At 30, Marie-Pierre decided to give up performing so that she could graduate at the famous Parisian university Sorbonne and became a teacher and writer. By collecting the story of one of the first transgender women, Sebastien Lifshitz continues his work initiated with Wild Side and Little Girl and portraits a forceful personality. "Bambi is a timeless portrait as much as an invigorating ode to the love of life around the prodigious strength of being oneself." (blogs.mediapart)

Keywords

  • #AccelerateAction | Internationaler Frauentag 2025
  • Doing Gender
  • Exclusive Docs: New Perspectives
  • Pioneers
  • Queerness: Living Out Loud
  • Sooner Exclusives
  • history
  • identity
  • inspiring
  • lifestyle
  • pop culture
  • trans*

Actors

  • Marie-Pierre Pruvot

Director

  • Sébastien Lifshitz

Biography, Queer


1h 23min


16

FR


EN

DE

France
2021
The new Director's cut of Sébastien Lifshitz's intimate and portrait of one of the first French trans woman, Marie-Pierre Pruvot, called BAMBI.

The new Director's cut of Sébastien Lifshitz's intimate and portrait of one of the first French trans woman, Marie-Pierre Pruvot, called BAMBI.


Algeria in the 1930s: Marie-Pierre Pruvot is assigned a different name and a male gender at birth. Even in her childhood, she notices that she prefers to wear dresses rather than pants. At the age of 17, her life takes a major turn when she has an epiphany while watching a famous drag show on tour: le Carrousel de Paris. She moved to Paris, joined the troupe, became BAMBI and within a few years established herself as a legendary figure of the Parisian cabaret scenes of the 50s and 60s.


But her extraordinary journey didn't stop there. At 30, Marie-Pierre decided to give up performing so that she could graduate at the famous Parisian university Sorbonne and became a teacher and writer.


By collecting the story of one of the first transgender women, Sebastien Lifshitz continues his work initiated with Wild Side and Little Girl and portraits a forceful personality.


"Bambi is a timeless portrait as much as an invigorating ode to the love of life around the prodigious strength of being oneself." (blogs.mediapart)

Festivals

Cast & Crew