Despite the wealth of powerful queer documentaries, few films have taken a specific look at the “I” in LGBTQIA+. Exploring the complexities of the intersex experience, director Julie Cohen’s Every Body seeks to amend this absence. For those unfamiliar with her work, Cohen is most well-known for her collaborations with co-director, Betsy West. As a directorial duo, Cohen and West have paid tribute to the stories of remarkable individuals like Julia Child in 2021’s Julia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Academy Award-nominated RBG. Cohen carries the reverence she feels for her subjects into Every Body, which insightfully raises awareness about intersex individuals even though some of its creative choices prove distracting.

Every Body opens with a montage of increasingly more ludicrous gender reveal parties. On the one hand, it is fun to mock the ridiculousness of this incredibly normative tradition. On the other, the montage serves as a sobering reminder of the world many intersex people are forced to face. It is a world that cannot see beyond strict distinctions between male and female. Thus, Every Body is about getting viewers to explore the lives of those between and beyond the binary—specifically by bringing attention to the intersex experience. (Intersex people, for those who are unaware, are those born with an anatomical difference that does not align with either male or female, as dictated by traditional definitions of sex.)

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‘Every Body’ is a Profile of Three Intersex Activists
Image via Focus Features

The film attends to the intersex experience by exploring the stories of three prominent intersex activists: Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel, and River Gallo. The film primarily engages with its subjects through interviews where the activists share their experiences growing up in a world not designed for intersex people. Each of the featured subjects, all open and engaging, generously detail their experiences with medical trauma and the forced secrecy that surrounds being intersex. Through their stories, the audience gains new insights into the lives of intersex people. Though these stories can be hard to hear, they are important conversations to be had.

While the film does deal with its subjects’ trauma, Cohen is careful not to let that define her film’s depiction of being intersex. Each one of the activists is allowed to share how they have navigated the world, their triumphs in it, and the efforts they’re making to change it. Through either archival footage or contemporary observation, Wall, Weigel, and Gallo are all seen fighting for their rights either by testifying in front of politicians or protesting on the street. These scenes all demonstrate how inspirational each of these people are, and the film calls upon its audience to follow this inspiration and participate in the movement. Just as importantly, the film also spends time with each activist just living their life. Whether it’s Wall getting ready in the mirror, Gallo rehearsing for a play, or Weigel swiping on Tinder with a glass of rosé, each activist is presented as a fully realized individual. By exploring their lives beyond their shared traumas and celebrating her subjects as both champions and regular people, Cohen imbues the film with empathy.

In addition to its activists’ acuity, Every Body successfully offers poignant insights into the nature of progress. One such example comes from a scene in which Wall and Weigel video conference with the mother of an intersex child. When discussing how the doctors approached the mother, Wall and Weigel are relieved to hear that the medical team took a progressive approach and did not force the child to undergo unauthorized surgery. For Wall and Weigel, this stands in sharp contrast to the years of medical procedures and scrutiny both endured. However, the mother also reveals that, after discovering the intersex traits were likely passed down to her child from her genetics, the doctors advised her not to have any more children. This scene suggests that even in cases where medical professionals are better approaching intersex care, they still may adhere to the binary. This is part of how Every Body makes sure to acknowledge that, while progress is being made (often thanks to people like Wall, Weigel, and Gallo), there is still more work to be done.

Some Creative Choices Distract From What ‘Every Body’ Does Right
Image via Focus Features

While the film is mostly successful, Every Body does tend to invoke some distracting creative choices. Some of these choices are simply cliché, like the film’s music. Many of the film’s more emotional moments are supported by on-the-nose cover songs, such as when the coming together of community members is set to the tune of “Stand by Me.” Other than the clever use of “Pretty Woman” as Weigel enters the Texas Capitol to fight against the discriminatory legislature, the obviousness of the songs mostly distracts from, rather than reinforces, the emotional impact of what is happening on screen.

Other choices, though, feel out of alignment with the film’s empathetic approach. Much of Every Body is dedicated to scrutinizing the harm done to the intersex community by the medical community, with most scorn justly directed at Dr. John Money, whose inhumane and harmful practices became influential in medicine. One way Cohen approaches Money’s influence is through archival footage of his talks and research. While some of this material is usefully educational for audiences of Every Body, Cohen also makes the odd choice to document Wall’s, Weigel’s, and Gallo’s reactions to watching the footage. While the intent may be to demonstrate how harmful Money’s research has been on intersex people, there is no reason to have the audience watch Wall, Weigel, and Gallo watch the footage. For a carefully empathetic film, it feels out of touch for Cohen to point the camera at them in this moment, seemingly hoping for an emotional reaction. While these moments are a bit distracting, they do not take up enough screen time to take away from the film’s message.

Despite a few missteps, Every Body is a necessary intervention in the catalog of queer documentaries. Thanks to the film’s insightful exploration of intersex lives, and the generous subjects who guide the viewer along the way, it informs and motivates in equal measure.

Rating: A-

Every Body is in theaters now.