Cher's son opens up on sex change journey.

The last time many of us paid attention to Chaz Bono, he had recently transitioned from a life as a woman to that of a man, and the tabloids and comedians were having a field day. Viewers of Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey's wildly engaging documentary Becoming Chaz might be surprised, then, to see the complicated and often touching story behind the late-night snark. The film, which had its premiere in Sunday night at the Sundance Film Festival ahead of its television airing in the US on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network later this year, depicts Bono, the child of Sonny Bono and Cher, as someone for whom a sex change was the necessary remedy for a life of depression. And unlike the same decisions by others that end in disappointment or tragedy, this one seems to have been a wise one: Chaz Bono says he's now infinitely happier and more fulfilled, even as his transition has created a fresh set of challenges.

"It's the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. It's the only time I've felt like a complete person," he says in the film, before acknowledging that "it's kind of a weird time for me. ... I definitely feel like I'm in the oven now."

He comes across as self-aware, honest (sometimes to a fault), a little rough around the edges but likable.

The outlines of the Chaz story are familiar to many. Three years ago, Chastity Bono began the process of changing genders. She was 39 at the time and had led an unusually turbulent life even by celebrity-offspring standards, battling addiction, the death of a partner, a 1990s coming-out process and the heavy glare of the spotlight that began as a toddler, when she was held in her father's arms in front of a national television audience on The Sonny & Cher Show.