Carlotta

I was always wondering whos story it was when I watched Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert. Now I know. And I am grateful that I could watch this amazing true story. I was struggling with the fact that they casted the beautiful, the stunning Jessica Marais to play Carlotta and I thought it would have been better if they'd casted a transwoman or a drag queen. But then I saw original pictures and video clips of the real Carlotta and OMG, WOW.....what a beauty she was and still is! And now I think they did right to cast Jessica Marais who did a fantastic job. Yes, nobody would believe that she ever was a bloke - but that's the same with the real Carlotty/Carol. Beside the personal story of Carol this movie shows a bit of the time back then. Not much though but for those who know, it is enough. I enjoyed this movie.

Stories about the lives of transgender people - both real and fictional - are more and more popular as the LGBT movement becomes more and more prominent. What once was a curiosity now takes its rightful place in the world as trans people refuse to be marginalized any longer. Carlotta fits this trend, telling the real story of an Australian transsexual performer Carol Spencer, also known under the stage name Carlotta.

The story itself may be called a "typical" trans story: from denial, through inner struggle, to becoming true to oneself. This quality is by no means a fault, on the contrary, it shows something that is pretty universal not only for transgender individuals, but for many people not fitting "the norm" for one reason or another. Jessica Marais is really good as Carol/Carlotta, showing both vulnerability and inner strength of this incredible woman. It's a shame that such complexities of Carol's character aren't fully explored and her story is presented more as a series of events and less as an emotional journey of a person evolving and becoming true to herself.

Sadly, no matter how inspiring and fascinating Carlotta's life was, the movie does not capture that. The narration is mediocre at best, often taking big leaps and treating most of the supporting characters as one-dimensional additions to Carlotta's story. The cinematography is typical for a television movie and at times I found it annoyingly similar to the mass-produced Hallmark movies. I was left with the feeling of disappointment at the production value of the movie, as Carlotta's story could have been a really good piece of cinema instead of a pretty mediocre tv production.

As good as Jessica Marais is as an actress, it is an obvious case of miscasting for her to have been chosen to play a role which is so much calling-out to be portrayed by an actor and not an actress. Did Carlotta select Ms Marais simply to be recognised as a very beautiful and svelte woman of incredible feminine appeal? Realistically, Carlotta should have been assigned to the talents of a professional drag-queen such as Courtney Act. The whole movie collapses simply because we can not visualise the stunning Jessica Marais as having ever been a boy! After all, it would have suited the purposes of the plot for viewers to actually witness a man delivering the attributes required for a transgender to make the grade as a successful showgirl.

Carlotta is the story of Richard Byron a young boy first played by Kai Lewins (definitely one to look out for) who was never like the other boys who he preferred dressing up in his mother's clothes, makeup and jewellery and had a unhappy childhood as he was psychically abused by his stepfather and so from the age of 16 now the role taken over by Jessica Marais moves to Kings Cross to work in a department store where meets Ava/Danny (Eamon Farren) and Christopher (Socratis Otto) who take Richard under their wing and introduce him to the world of drag and cabaret shows. Alex Dimitriades is brilliant as ever as Ava's abusive boyfriend Angelo, Anita Heigh is exceptional as Richard/Carol's mother who is a victim in a loveless marriage and Ryan Johnson is amazing the love of Carol's life Peter who loves her for she is a person. Overall the movie is an A grade production with the whole cast, amazing costumes and thank you director Samantha Lang and writer David Hanam and Carlotta for bringing this to the screen.

I was browsing for Alex Dimitriades films through the Tubi search engine and came across Carlotta. Oh well, I decided to watch the movie for Alex- billed as Angelo.

He wasn't even in this film long enough to acknowledge his presence. Of the few scenes he is in a few of the crowd scenes at the nightclub, he kisses his Transvestite lover and smacks his Transvestite lover on the behind. Later on, we, the viewer, find Angelo ditched his Transvestite lover and is shacking up with a stripper. Anybody could have played the part of Angelo. Was Alex that desperate for a paycheck?

As for this type of film, I liked I Want What I Want with Anne Heywood better.