Cambio De Sexo

Jose Maria is a seventeen year old boy; his father is a successful restaurant owner in a town some distance from Barcelona, in Spain. The boy is intelligent and sensitive, but his mannerisms and habits, and lack of masculine drive, lead him to get bullied at school. The school principal decides that Jose is the disruptive influence, and asks for him to be removed from the school. The father berates the boy, and his mother, for his failure to be a red-blooded young man, and sends him away for a while to live with a friend in the country. Father visits the boy, and takes him to a strip club in Barcelona, run by a lady friend of his, intending that this will "cure" him of his sexual reserve. However one of the acts is a pre-operative transsexual, and there is a full frontal exposure at the end. [The transsexual is Bibi Andersen, in her first big screen wole; she went on to play is several of Pedro Almodovar's films.] Father has arranged that after the show, the lady friend will take Jose back to her place for sex. Jose evidently has no idea what is going on; "Everything will be all right: you'll see", she says. Jose doesn't look very sure of that, and in fact refuses to co-operate. Father is furious and threatens Jose with violence if, in a repeat visit in a month's time, Jose "fails" him again. Jose takes some clothes belonging to the lady of the house where he is staying, and dressed as a girl he leaves and goes to Barcelona. Dressed as a girl, Jose gets picked up by a man, Alvaro, who finds him a room to stay in. But Jose changes back into male clothes before actually seeing the owner of the house, and when Alvaro calls back later, to see Maria, the lady says there is no-one of that name there. For the time being, Jose stays in male mode so far as the rest of the world is concerned. Later, Jose buys a newspaper and sees that his Father has put a description and photograph in an announcement, and Jose sends a latter home saying that he is safe. He successfully gets a job in a hair stylist's, and soon his sister arrives to see him. Everything is bad at home, but the sister is sympathetic. The go out for a milk shake, and Jose goes to the lavatory, and, without giving his sister any warning, comes back in female mode, to her amazement. Nonetheless they go to a dance club together, as two girls, and indulge in some flirting. Afterwards back at Jose's room, sister asks how Jose feels when dancing with a guy. "Well, I suppose I feel the same way you do.". Sister (looking confused): "Oh, but that's impossible ... you're not a woman!" Back at the hair stylist's, Bibi Andersen comes in as a customer, and Jose is told to look after her. In case we have forgotten, a colleague comes up and tells Jose who she is ... "They say she's a man." Back at the digs, Jose overhears the landlady and her manfriend going for a day at the beach. Jose takes the opportunity to dress in some feminine clothes, but inevitably the people come back unexpectedly. The manfriend is appalled but the landlady is entirely sympathetic and goes to great lengths to let Jose know that they are going out again and won't be back until late. Jose, as Maria, goes to the dance club and a previous admirer is there. They dance, and both parties enjoy it, but apparently they don't go on to anywhere afterwards. The next day in the hair salon, Jose asks Bibi Andersen for advice about seeing the man again, and she advises against it, without really explaining why. So Maria sees him anyway; they go to have sex, although Maria says she doesn't know what to do. We have to infer how it turned out, and back at the digs, she goes to the bathroom, and takes an open razor, and has a go at removing her unwanted appendages. Despite a visit in hospital by Bibi Jose decides to abandon the independent life in Barcelona and returns home. However Father is still very hostile, and Jose soon is back in Barcelona. Luckily the landlady still has a room free, and welcomes Jose and gives her some old clothes and helps on other ways. From now on, Jose is Maria all the time. Maria hasn't got a job now, but when she goes to see Bibi she gets a job at the club as a waitress. Bibi explains that she has had a sex change operation since they last met, and shows Maria the results. Matria is impressed, even though Bibi explains that "showing her dick" was enough before, but now they tell her she has to learn how to dance. After an impromptu dance at the club with Bibi, the club owner is clearly impressed with Maria and offers her stardom if she will train herself to "turn into a woman". With a lot of help in grooming and dancing, she achieves success on the stage, and the club owner finds her attractive enough to risk a relatively chaste kiss, which Bibi observes, provoking a scene. Nonetheless things develop between them, and he wants her to be his wife, and to have the necessary operation. Will they live happily ever after ... ?