海角大神

In 'A Fantastic Woman,' actress Daniela Vega gives a tour de force performance

Chilean director Sebasti谩n Lelio鈥檚 鈥淎 Fantastic Woman,鈥� the favorite to win this year鈥檚 Oscar for best foreign language film, is about the tribulations of a transgender woman in present-day Santiago, Chile.

Chilean director Sebasti谩n Lelio鈥檚 鈥淎 Fantastic Woman,鈥� the favorite to win this year鈥檚 Oscar for best foreign language film, is about the tribulations of a transgender woman in present-day Santiago, Chile. The woman is Marina Vidal, a waitress and nightclub singer with operatic aspirations, and she is played by a transgender actress, Daniela Vega, in a tour de force performance that places her front and center for almost the entire movie.

We first see Marina in a nightclub where her male lover, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), who has left his wife for her, shows up for what becomes an intimate birthday celebration. He is in his 50s, she鈥檚 27, and both are clearly enraptured by each other. But that night when they are together in his apartment, which she is about to move into, Orlando collapses, falling down a long flight of stairs. He dies soon after in the hospital, unleashing a torrent of grief and confusion and accusation. The hospital authorities don鈥檛 recognize Marina as an immediate family member, and since Orlando鈥檚 body was bruised from his fall, she comes under suspicion from investigators for foul play.聽

Since we know the cause of those bruises, we are immediately placed in direct sympathy with Marina. She is not even recognized as a woman: A policeman in the hospital glances at her ID, which still refers to her as male, and calls her 鈥渟ir.鈥� A female investigator, who respects Marina鈥檚 gender transition, at least until she is out of Marina鈥檚 earshot, requires her to undergo a strip search to determine if she also is bruised.聽

There is a hint of the Hitchcock who made 鈥淭he Wrong Man鈥� in this scenario: Marina has to navigate a labyrinth of roadblocks in order to assert her innocence. (In an unnecessary plot development, there is even a mysterious key to a locked and unlocated safe.) But the real obstacles here are between Marina and Orlando鈥檚 family: his ex-wife Sonia (Aline K眉ppenheim) and his son Bruno (Nicol谩s Saavedra), who wastes little time in forcing Marina out of Orlando鈥檚 apartment where she had taken up residence and been caring for his dog.

Sonia tries to make sense of Marina鈥檚 hold on Orlando, but her brutal honesty wins out. 鈥淲hen I look at you, I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 seeing,鈥� she tells Marina in one of their first encounters after Orlando鈥檚 death. Then she adds, 鈥淎 chimera, that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 seeing.鈥� Marina accepts her confusion without offense or disdain, but then Sonia makes it known that she will not allow Marina to attend Orlando鈥檚 funeral. This strikes at Marina鈥檚 heart. She believes that 鈥渟aying goodbye to a loved one is a basic human right.鈥� Out of her love for Orlando, and her rage at being excluded from the service, she single-mindedly engineers a way to mourn that brings her grief out into the open.聽

A smattering of people 鈥� including Marina鈥檚 sister and an old friend of Orlando鈥檚 鈥� are in sympathy with Marina, but Lelio, and his screenwriter, Gonzalo Maza, have essentially positioned her as a lone crusader. This is the film鈥檚 basic flaw: By defining Marina almost entirely in relation to the opposition she faces, they reduce a complex individual to a transgender feminist standard-bearer.

If Pedro Almod贸var, especially in his early days, had directed this film, he might have brought out the black comedy inherent in the piece, which would have made both the blackness and the comedy more fully resonate. Despite Vega鈥檚 intensity, which never fails to hold the screen, there is an impassivity to her performance. Because we are rarely brought into what her life might have been like before she met Orlando, her hard-bitten righteousness becomes a bit wearying. When we see her singing in the smoky nightclubs, or, later, on the classical stage singing an aria by Handel, we are meant to prize her superior aesthetic sensibility.聽

In attempting to prop up Marina as a wronged saint, the film doesn鈥檛 fully acknowledge how unsettled or justifiably enraged Orlando鈥檚 family might be made by her. They are essentially the villains of the story. In the film鈥檚 terms, their hostilities exist because they loathe her strength 鈥� a strength they clearly lack. 鈥淎 Fantastic Woman鈥� trumpets its intentions in its very title. It should not have been necessary to exalt Marina in order to give her passion and turmoil their due.聽Grade: B (Rated R for language, sexual content, nudity, and a disturbing assault.)