Bambi was born Jean-Pierre Pruvot in a tiny Algerian village in 1935. Even as a child, she refused to meet the expectations of her extended family, choosing instead to find a way to become the woman she always knew herself to be. A Cabaret Carrousel de Paris performance in Algiers in the 1950s proved to be all the encouragement she needed to emigrate to the French capital, assume the stage name of ‘Bambi’ and lead the life she longed for on the music-hall stages.
From the day she was born in Algiers, Marie-Pierre has always wanted to wear dresses and has stubbornly refused her given name: Jean-Pierre. At the age of 17, her life takes a major turn when she comes upon a drag show on tour: le Carrousel de Paris. Marie-Pierre becomes Bambi, and within a few years establishes herself as a legendary figure of the Parisian cabaret scenes of the 50s and 60s. This updated version of the film extends and deepens the short-film released in 2013 to become the feature-length version the director has always dreamt of making.
Two legends contested their identities as women in the court of public opinion: April Ashley, who was immortalized as a trailblazer by embracing her transgender history; and Amanda Lear, who has consciously denied and obfuscated her history for decades. Their divergent paths reveal disparate but intertwined legacies.
