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Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(June 2011, screening at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival)

Directed by: Eric Drath
Featuring: Renée Richards, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Barbara Krohn, Nicholas Raskind, Bud Collins, Mary Carillo, Billie Jean King and Virginia Wade

For those familiar with the tennis legacy of Renée Richards (even if only as an answer to a Trivial Pursuit question), Eric Drath’s ESPN Films documentary serves up (no pun intended) an engrossing documentary. Richards’ efforts as a male, then as a professional female tennis player deserve to be more widely known, and the transsexual’s exploits on and off the court in the late 1970s must be considered in any assessment of public pioneers for the LGBT cause.

Born Richard Raskind in 1934, the Yale athlete and medical-school graduate seemed to have everything going for him as a surgeon and first-class amateur tennis player. That he felt compelled to embrace his calling to become Renée even after committing himself to a marriage that yielded a son is itself an interesting transformation. And his determination to play tennis at its highest level, as a female, under the intense public scrutiny to which professional sportspeople are subjected, is tantalizing — and fascinating regardless of personal opinion.

Former girlfriends, current friends and family members all contribute their recollections, adding a depth of perspective to the metamorphosis and its effect on the person and the sport of tennis. Richards’ own ability to contemplate, on camera, both her sexual status and compulsion, as well as her eventual position within society’s strata, is defined by a quiet, difficult dignity. The most significant insight into the cost of the choices made by Richards, however, is the open exploration of Richards’ tormented relationship with her son Nicholas, to whom her role as father figure and public persona would have been difficult enough even without the scrutiny of the media.

A significant percentage of sports- and trivia-minded individuals of a certain age will never forget Richards’ name and the reason for her fame/infamy, and many with that familiarity will be compelled to view Richards’ state of being today. While Drath seems to lack the charisma and conviction to make this documentary as gripping and personal as those of the master, Bud Greenspan, the lasting effect of “Renée” is undeniable, and the sharing of her story is not only earnest but salient and meaningful.

Photo courtesy Los Angeles Film Festival