Elvira Weishaupt, once a burly working-class butcher, has made an enormous sacrifice for love. She has undergone a sex change for a romantic interest who has abandoned her, and she now must struggle to reconcile her past life with her present identity.

The film is a satire on the cult of genius surrounding “young directors” like Jean-Luc Godard, Wim Wenders or Jim Jarmusch. “I” parodies above all the vanities of these directors in their own self-presentation. Bettina Flitner plays the young genius who is questioned and observed at work, Hella von Sinnen can be seen in various roles, as a mother, an aunt, a school principal and as an actress. “I” is full of allusions to films and directors. Many interview passages are taken almost verbatim from a conversation a newspaper had with “cult” director Jim Jarmusch.