Film Notes

'A Fantastic Woman': Berlin Review

A transgender woman loses her partner in Sebastian Leilo’s “wrenchingly emotional” drama.

Marina (Daniela Vega) and Orlando (Francisco Reyes) are in love. Despite a twenty-year age gap, they plan to spend their lives together. He left his wife and family for her. But after a birthday celebration in which he promises to take her on a trip to Iguazu Falls, Orlando is taken gravely ill. He dies in hospital. And Marina finds that, as a transgender woman, everything is called into question – their relationship, her role in his death, her right to grieve for the man she loved. Driven by a powerhouse performance by mesmerising transgender actress Vega, the fifth feature from Sebastián Lelio combines urgent naturalism with occasional flickers of fantasy to impressive, and wrenchingly emotional effect.

The film follows Leilo’s acclaimed previous feature, Gloria, which also premiered in Berlinale competition and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Paulina Garcia. And it’s hard to imagine that A Fantastic Woman will go home empty-handed – this is a quality package on every level. Producing credits for Pablo Larrain and Maren Ade, and an exemplary score by Matthew Herbert, add weight to a film which already ticks plenty of boxes for potential arthouse success. Sony Pictures Classics have acquired North America, Australia and New Zealand rights. It goes without saying that festival interest will be keen.

With this satisfying account of a few days in the life of a poised, resilient transgender woman and Gloria’s warm and contoured portrait of a divorcee in late middle age, Leilo displays a knack for getting under the skin of female characters who, for no fault of their own, find themselves somewhat marginalised by society.

Although we mainly get to spend time with Marina while she is shellshocked by grief and fraying at the edges, and nothing is overtly stated, we get a sense, from exchanges with her sister and brother-in-law, of a chaotic, embattled life which found an anchor in Orlando. There is a defensive carapace around her which Orlando had dismantled and which she swiftly rebuilds as humiliations are layered over her grief. The first of these is a hospital doctor who bluntly refers to her as ‘he’. “Is that a nickname?” he blurts, when Marina gives her name. A detective prying into the details of the relationship asks if Orlando paid for her company. But it’s the use of ‘Daniel’, still the official name on her identity papers, which causes Marina to recoil as if slapped.

The real indignities, however, are piled on by the family. Orlando’s ex-wife bars Marina from the memorial and the funeral. And his adult son Bruno reacts with petty acts of cruelty which soon graduate into physical aggression.

Benjamín Echazarreta’s cinematography makes expressive use of reflections – there is a beautifully composed shot of Marina’s anguished eyes staring through a window which also reflects Orlando in the emergency room. And later, a slyly positioned hand mirror teasingly refers to the crude questions of Orlando’s family about whether or not Marina has had gender reassignment surgery.

The picture is tied together by an orchestral score by Matthew Herbert which is as immediately striking as Alexander Desplat’s for Birth or Mica Levi’s for Jackie. Herbert, best known for his playful, experimental electronic music, crafts a fluttering heartbeat of a flute motif which is achingly lovely. The soundtrack also includes Aretha Franklin’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, a morale-boosting anthem which prepares Marina for her first encounter with Orlando’s ex-wife. And Marina’s own singing bookends the film, giving the picture its transcendent final scene.

WENDY IDE, Screen Daily, 12 FEBRUARY 2017.

'A Fantastic Woman' ('Una Mujer fantastica'): Film Review | Berlin 2017

Chilean director Sebastian Lelio follows 'Gloria' with another intimate exploration of female solitude, sexuality, humiliation and resilience, this time built around a transgender singer.

Four years ago, Sebastian Lelio shook up the official competition in Berlin with Gloria, a bracingly honest, ultimately empowering study of the rocky journey of a middle-aged divorcee, stumbling toward completeness with a gradual affirmation of her self-worth and independence. True to its title, the Chilean director's extraordinary new film, A Fantastic Woman, is a superlative companion piece. Another work of searing empathy, it traces the emergence from devastating grief of a young transgender protagonist, treated like a criminal in the wake of her older partner's abrupt death.

Shocking and enraging, funny and surreal, rapturous and restorative, this is a film of startling intensity and sinuous mood shifts wrapped in a rock-solid coherence of vision. Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for the U.S., it should carve a significant commercial path while further elevating Lelio in the rising-star ranks of international filmmakers.

While it's politically charged and very much of the moment in terms of its representation of trans-rights issues, what's perhaps most remarkable is that not a word of direct advocacy is spoken. Any trace of the agenda movie is deftly subsumed in pulsing human drama.

The emotionally penetrating singularity of focus on a woman alone, reeling from loss, in some ways invites comparison with the recent Jackie, directed by another bright light of Chilean cinema, Pablo Larrain, one of the main producers here through Fabula, the company he heads with his brother, Juan de Dios Larrain.

While its flamboyant flourishes generally are quieter, Lelio's movie also recalls the dazzling midcareer flight of Pedro Almodovar, when he moved away from subversive comedy into psychologically and structurally complex melodramas like The Flower of My Secret, All About My Mother and Talk to Her.

Some might even find echoes of John Cassavetes' great vehicles for Gena Rowlands. And few will miss the elegant strains of Hitchcock, both in themes of enigmatic female identity and the divided self, redolent of Vertigo, and in the cool visual compositions of cinematographer Benjamin Echazarreta, which capture the title figure against eye-catching features of Santiago architecture that suggest a heightened reality. Visually, the movie is a knockout from first frame — a magnificent view of Iguazu Falls, no less — to last, its use of color sumptuous.

Played by the remarkable transgender actress Daniela Vega, the central character, Marina Vidal, shows fortitude and self-possession that won't quit, regardless of the blows she's dealt. A singer in her late twenties making ends meet by waitressing, she's first seen performing in a nightclub act, tossing flirty glances at her partner Orlando (Francisco Reyes), and teasing him with song lyrics about their love being yesterday's news. But the mutual depth of feeling and sexual intoxication between them makes it abundantly clear that's not the case.

Working again with Gonzalo Maza, his co-screenwriter on Gloria and earlier films, Lelio conveys the couple's loving commitment in gorgeous scenes like a birthday meal at a Chinese restaurant, a rapturous dance-floor smooch, and blissful sex back at his apartment, where she has recently moved in. Orlando, a 57-year-old textile company executive with a marriage and family behind him, pledges a gift to Marina of a trip for two to the Iguazu Falls. However, he's misplaced the actual envelope containing the tickets, which becomes an intriguing MacGuffin in Marina's odyssey.

Orlando dies suddenly that same night after suffering an aneurism. Marina is stunned and shattered, but already at the hospital, her grief is ignored amid questions about their relationship from a doctor (Alejandro Goic) who insists on using male pronouns in reference to her, as well as the male birth name on her papers. A wound and bruising on Orlando's body from a fall while getting to the hospital result in a police report. A detective from the Sexual Offenses Investigation Unit (Amparo Noguera) operates from the assumption that prostitution or rape were involved before subjecting Marina to a degrading physical examination.

That's nothing, however, compared to the hostile indifference of Orlando's family to her pain. The dead man's son, Bruno (Nicolas Saavedra), who can't even remember Marina's name, informs her he wants her out of the apartment as fast as possible, refusing to hide his disgust at his father's choices. And Orlando's ex-wife Sonia (Aline Kuppenheim), a businesswoman festooned in power jewelry, barely contains the contempt behind her veneer of cold courtesy, before offering her money to get out of their lives. Only Orlando's brother Gabo (Luis Gnecco) shows her respect, though she reads his offer to give her some of her late partner's ashes as a bribe to keep her away from the funeral and wake.

Throughout these ordeals, Marina maintains her surface composure, while a slow-building rage churns inside her. Lelio and Echazarreta effectively place her under an emotional microscope. They study her against reflective surfaces and alienating backdrops like the amusement arcade connected to the café where she works, or the sleazy backroom of a club she wanders through, seeking self-punishing release. Such moments of rawness are interspersed with others of fantastical escape, like a dance scene in which she's transformed in her mind from a wreck to a glittering star, leading a choreographed formation routine.

One of the most striking interludes follows Marina's visit to her operatic voice coach (Sergio Hernandez), a father figure who reprimands her for not being serious enough about her talent. She tacks off afterward along the street into the face of a windstorm of supernatural force, while her voice continues to be heard singing the Giacomelli aria "Sposa son disprezzata," appropriately, about a scorned wife. Even when music choices might potentially have seemed too on-the-nose, like Aretha Franklin doing "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," Lelio uses them with audacious originality.

That extends also to the strange and beautiful score by experimental British electronica composer Matthew Herbert, working here in a more orchestral but no less distinctive vein.

The supporting ensemble (loaded with Larrain regulars) is studded with incisive character work, including from Trinidad Gonzalez and Nestor Cantillana as Marina's supportive stoner sister and her sweet flake of a husband, respectively. And despite relatively brief screen time augmented by ghostly subsequent reappearances, Reyes makes a strong impression as Orlando, of a man reborn through unexpected happiness; the bitter prejudice and lack of understanding his choices sparked become evident only after his death.

The movie's stunning revelation, however, is Vega, whether Marina is enduring disrespect to which she's become almost inured; experiencing horrific violence that cruelly transforms her into the freak other people see; unleashing her inner banshee; or shedding silent tears after finally seizing the right to mourn for which she has fought so hard. It's a transfixing performance, restrained and moving, with a gut-wrenching impact in one hypnotic scene where Marina is forced to pass as a man. Vega even does her own singing, with impressive ability.

No less than Paulina Garcia's astonishing work in Gloria, this is acting at its most fearless. The movie represents a huge leap in terms of trans narratives onscreen, but by any standard, it's a powerful drama of a woman whose suffering never dims her determination to keep moving forward.

David Rooney, the Hollywood Reporter, 2/12/2017.

What you thought about A Fantastic Woman [Una Mujer Fantástica]

Film Responses

Collated Response Comments

104 members and guests attended with 52 responses giving 50% hit rate.

Your sensitivities were really to the fore in your comments with one member telling us that the film was “Challenging and thought provoking, but in a good way. Although much in the news, transgender is not a subject I have given a lot of thought too and I found the film was absorbing and sensitive and not too in your face”. Another wrote “A good exploration of grief, relationships & transgender prejudice. It was a well thought out story that did not rely on a happy ending though it was a hopeful one. I enjoyed the film very much”. Others told us that “The cinematography among the best I’ve ever seen! The emotions were humanly raw. The pain of love overpowering. Grieg real!” “Marvellous film – poignant, sad and heart-warming”. “Amazing performance by Daniela Vega”.

But it was not an easy film to understand on first viewing as written here “I’m struggling to articulate what I felt about the film - I enjoyed it but can’t think of anything intelligent to write about it. One question that strikes me is how much of the family’s animosity was because she was transgender and how much was about her having ‘stolen’ Orlando from them? The brutality of the son was undoubtedly transgender-phobic but would not the wife have been just as bitter towards any ‘other woman’. I quite like this blurring. I also liked the fact that although I was expecting it, she didn’t find the tickets to Iguazu Falls in the Finlandia locker. What was the significance of the empty locker? And why wasn’t she immediately forthcoming about Orlando’s fall down the staircase? The scene at the clinic where she was photographed for bruises was brutal. An example of art presenting us with naked truth and, hopefully, leading to social change. Bit of a ramble, sorry, but on reflection I found the film more confusing than I initially felt after the viewing!”

“This film was beautifully filmed and acted, but for me a little uneven. I didn't appreciate the fantasy sequences overmuch, but loved the deliberate ambiguities of the characterisation of the main character - the punch bag, the fact that she was apparently able to pass from female to male dressing rooms with no great reaction and the final scene where a beautiful transgender woman is singing a Handel aria written for a 'trouser role', a female singer in a male role. A joy that the director avoided the oversimplified picture of a transgender woman”.

“Another venture into unknown territory.  And I guess, rather than it just being me being disoriented, it’s what we are all expected to feel.  Properly thought provoking, although I don’t know enough about film to recognise the influences.  I have to mention the recurring theme of reflection, so cleverly done that it’s only when the great sheet of mirror is carried across the plaza that we realise what we’ve been seeing”. All comments are on the website.

“The most revealing aspect of this moving film is its viewpoint. We rapidly come to see the world through the eyes of the mercurial Marina; a rock in a storm of misinformed prejudice, suspicion and hatred from the merely chilly and insensitive attitude of the authorities to the frothing rage of Orlando's odious family. Much of the film has something of a Hitchcockian, noir feel; an air of Orwellian unease in which her sense of self is always under question. All of which batters her to the edge but which she eventually, via the bizarre but marvellous dance scene, transcends to emerge tempered and honed by her ordeal. It is a performance of great sensitivity and subtle strength; there are moments, as she once again marches towards camera, when one is reminded of Lee Marvin's implacable Walker in 'Point Blank'”.

“Brilliant film technically: acting, cinematography, direction, and also the recording: the extra sharpness and colour clarity of the 4K were significant. But the storyline gave our senses and reactions a real workout: sometimes huge sympathy for this abused woman, then wondering whether her consistently resistant and unsmiling demeanour might not be contributing to the reactions she raised in others. Gave us a LOT of food for thought”.

“Really thought provoking and terrific acting from Daniela Vega”. 

“The best film I’ve seen for a long time”. “How tragic. What a complicated life. Very beautiful. Acting magnificent”. “What a performance by Daniela Vega! + Beautiful camera work”. “So poignant. What a very difficult life. Excellent filming”. “Great film. Excellent acting by lead.” “Brilliant film. Very sad”. “Extraordinary acting and photography. Most skilful directing. Glad I came”.

“That was such an amazing film. Had me holding my breath at the end”. “Very powerful”. “Thought provoking!” “It was emotive, beautiful & horrible, shocking & sad”. “Very powerful. Full of pathos”. “Thought provoking. How horrible people can be to each other”. “Beautifully acted. Great story. Well directed too”. “Very moving. Excellent lead actor. How would UK society react to this scenario?” “Kept my attention. Loved the main actress”.

“Very good central performance, kept me interested”. “Oddly I only realised I liked the film in the final couple of scenes!” “Extremely well shot and acted. Accurate but too depressing to be excellent. The balance between the different elements in her story seemed wrong”. “Sensitive treatment of a difficult situation. Uplifting ending. I didn’t enjoy most of the film but changed my mind towards the end. From poor to good”.

“Fascinating! A totally riveting experience. Excellent acting and haunting music. A powerful exploration of what it is to be an “outsider” when a loved one dies and you are not part of the family!” “A gripping film, full of anticipation. An all too credible venture into a world I had never really considered. Just the sort of film the Film Society should be showing”.

“A difficult film to watch for its lack of tolerance and compassion for another human being”. “A stunning lead Marina”. “Thought provoking and interesting”. “Excellent acting and shooting”. “Haunting, brutal, but astonishing and spectacular at the same time. Wonderful performances. Brings shocking realisation to the difficulty of being a transgender, and more important equality”.