Une femme fantastique

"A Fantastic Woman" is Chile's submission to the Academy Awards for the category of Best Foreign Film. The film tells the story of a transgender woman, Marina, who is suddenly cast into a state of mourning after her older boyfriend Orlando died suddenly and unexpectedly. She must confront and come to terms with Orlando's immediate and extended family members as well, who are just as shocked by the tragic loss as she is but generally unaccepting of her gender identity.

Sebastian Lelio delivers a well-directed film that makes good usage of simple but exquisite technical and editing tactics. The acting in the film is quite strong throughout, and the script is also well-written. Daniela Varga's lead performance is excellent, as she portrays Marina with a genuine sense of melancholy. She is able to enable the audience to feel a deep-seated, full-throated sense of empathy as well--one which we can only wish the characters she interacts with during the film's duration could have towards her in return. The tone on display in the film is somber and very bleak, but distinctly and genuinely rooted in reality. Such tone is supported--and exacerbated (in a good way)--by the simple score and aesthetic qualities we see. The chronology of the film's narrative is rather bizarre, as is the juxtaposition of some scenes and brief interludes. Otherwise, this is a generally well-made film. 7/10

I don't always check out Academy Award nominated foreign films unless they really grab my attention (nothing personal, just time constraints with what I watch). A Fantastic Woman recently opened in the city and I decided to check it out. Didn't know a whole lot going in but I was excited nonetheless. After viewing the film I'll say while its not perfect and seems to get lost at stages as it goes along its still an effort that speaks towards today's issues and a film with a fine central performance from a newcomer.

The film is about a transgender woman who recently experiences the loss of her lover after he experiences his seizure. She is not able to grieve and attend the funeral properly because his family are embarrassed by her (because she's transgender) and even resort to verbally and physically attacking her. The film also shows how difficult her life is as she tries to find peace and solace in the death of her lover. The film was submitted from Chile.

Daniela Vega is very impressive for a newcomer. Her performance is powerful. She has to stand up against oppression and is unnerved as she does it. She's quite a great and complex character and has to carry the film. A Fantastic Woman is a thin work otherwise. Its interesting because it touches on discrimination against LGBTQ, which is still a problem in the world today. I do feel like the film builds very slowly throughout and doesn't quite achieve its potential.

The film is actually fairly safe compared to other films that deal with discrimination and hate. Other's might feel more positive about the film than I do. Daniela Vega has a future and will likely be in other foreign (or even local) work. I do have a mind to check out some of the other foreign nominees this year but I might just in the end check out the winner instead. Who knows, could be this one.

6.5/10

I had expected 'The Square' to win the foreign language Oscar, and I had hoped 'On Body and Soul' would take home the award. I was wrong. Instead of the urgency of the former or the poetry of the latter, the jury chose the delicacy of 'Una Mujer Fantástica'.

Probably, the choice has been as much inspired by the subject of the film as by the cinematographic quality of it. 'Una Mujer Fantástica' is a plea for mutual understanding, tolerance and kindness. And at the same time a condemnation of bigotry, prejudice and brutality. It can't be seen without having to think about the wave of intolerance against all kinds of minorities currently sweeping western societies.

The fantastic woman who has given the film its title, is Marina Vidal, a woman in her twenties who is dating a businessman about twice her age. In spite of the age difference, they seem to be happy with each other. But it's not so much the age difference that is remarkable. Marina is a woman who has been a man before.

In the first part of the film, this is not an issue at all. It's only after her lover suddenly dies, that Marina's gender becomes something peculiar. The medical staff, the police and, above all, her lover's relatives treat her with utmost distrust and suspicion. They won't even let her grieve, or attend the funeral.

The film shows how Marina suffers from the way she is treated, and how she refuses to give in. She remains her proud self, and in the end gets what she wants: a decent goodbye to her deceased lover. The film doesn't fall into the trap of making the whole thing too sentimental. The director registers the events, with a certain amount of compassion, but without making a tearjerker of it.

This is not a groundbreaking movie. But 'Una Mujer Fantástica' is without any doubt a well-written, well-directed and well-acted drama, with an underlying message that's hard not to agree with.

I think a film like this needed someone very sensitive and attuned to the difficulty of the story, and thankfully that's what it achieved. Sebastian Lelio's voice comes shining through in each frame. I think the biggest factor that the film relied on was the actress, and Daniela Vega is really wonderful here. It's a glorious, but quiet and effective turn.

This is really, really good.

(opens a can of wasps)I'm always struck by the sky-high ratings on IMDb for bad LGBT movies, and wonder if it's attributable to a) the comparative paucity of these films, meaning that we should celebrate those we get, regardless of their technical or artistic deficiencies (the extension, I suppose, is the tribalistic mindset this engenders, in which you can't judge them as bad films, as they're not just films); b) my lack of insight into what these films should be doing in relation to their audience and LGBT issues in 2017.(/can of wasps)

Anyway, no such ruminations necessary on this one, it's bloody brilliant: a dazzling, poetic, sometimes dream-like Chilean film about a trans woman (Daniela Vega) trying to hold it together – and reach some point of resolution – after the death of her boyfriend. I should mention that his family aren't helping.

Vega has the most fascinating face and the camera makes the most of it, not least in a dazzling nightclub sequence that moves from pain to sensuality to a fantasy dance number, but there's such depth to her characterisation too, and the film's refusal to give her easy, sassy victories is uniquely satisfying, grappling profoundly and humanely with issues that are both specific and universal.

The effect is of a Dardennes story adapted by Almodovar, but I haven't seen anyone like Vega before. I'm not sure she can really sing classical (the best use of 'Ombra mai fu' is now and forever in Humphrey Jennings' seismic short film, Spare Time, Handel fans), but the rest of the music's a treat, with British composer Matthew Herbert delivering an audial dreamscape that like the script, photography and performances serves to conjure a very particular mood.