“A Fantastic Woman”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a screening of “A Fantastic Woman” at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center. 

Synopsis

When a transgender woman’s lover dies, can she cope with the open hostility from his family and society as she mourns? 

Story

Marina (Daniela Vega) could not be happier; she is celebrating her birthday with her lover, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), a much older man.  The two are very much in love with each other despite the fact that Orlando’s family – and much of society – consider their love to be of the forbidden kind.  Not because he, at 57, is old enough to be Marina’s father, but because Marina is a transgender woman.  Everyone – including Orlando’s ex-wife and his adult offspring – find the whole idea both revolting and completely unnatural.

Complications develop on the night of Marina’s birthday celebration.  Overnight, Orlando suddenly falls ill and Marina decides to take him to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.  Before she can get him into the car, Orlando falls down some stairs and incurs some bruises.  By the time Marina can get him to the hospital, it is too late; he has succumbed to his illness, which turns out to be an aneurysm.  Not technically being part of his family, Marina has to summon Orlando’s brother to take care of the details.  It turns out that he is the only member of Orlando’s family that is sympathetic to Marina’s situation.

Orlando’s ex-wife meets with Marina and informs her that she is not welcome at Orlando’s funeral.  As if to make matters worse, the police suspect Marina as being complicit in Orlando’s death; after inspection of his corpse, they believe that the bruises on his body may have been the result of a beating given to him by Marina.  Although she is innocent, they don’t believe her story and the scrutiny upon her only increases.  Lonely and feeling victimized by both the police and Orlando’s family, will Marina be able to mourn her loss and continue with her life? 

Review

There is no doubt that “A Fantastic Woman” displays a considerable amount of heart.  This is evident from beginning to end and at all points in between.  But to regard it as one of the Best Foreign Language Films (as the Academy has it nominated) is something of a stretch.  Perhaps the most honest explanation for this is merely the fact that there is an effort (which may or may not be earnest) to be politically correct.  After all, this is a story about the lack of humanity displayed towards a transgender woman as she copes with her loss and it has occurred during the time of the #MeToo movement as well as the response to #OscarsSoWhite from a couple of years ago.

Is “A Fantastic Woman” a good movie?  Yes.  Is it a great movie?  Maybe not so much.  However, it is definitely an interesting and an entertaining movie, made all the much more compelling as a result of the performance by Daniela Vega, who makes the character of Marina all too real to us.  That said, the fact that it has been nominated for Best Foreign Film this year speaks more to the fact that there is a paucity of truly extraordinary films from outside of the United States (in fact, the United States itself may have had a paucity of extraordinary films this year as well, but that may be another conversation altogether).

“A Fantastic Woman” is certainly a motion picture worthy of viewing and discussing as our society – not just in the United States, but worldwide – changes in terms of its viewpoint toward acceptance of the LGBTQ community.  It is important to confront the bigotry and hostility toward a transgender woman who engaged in a non-traditional (albeit mutually consensual) relationship with a man who has a history of heterosexual preferences.  If any good comes of this film, it will be to continue that conversation in order to arrive at some kind of understanding so our culture can move forward.