A fantastic woman (2017)

[honeychile]

Some very hot reviews for this film about a trans woman's exclusion from grieving for her partner by his family.

I felt like it had two halves: a more events-driven first half and a more emotionally-driven second half. The former was pretty well-executed, making me think about how the procedures and details you have to deal with in the wake of bereavement can be intrusive and unpleasant and dehumanising for anyone, never mind the deliberate humiliation and invalidation that Marina was subject to.

While watching i was actually most struck by the photography, locations, and design, which impressed Santiago as a slick and soulless environment - passive and detached from what was happening within it, or maybe trying to pretend it wasn't happening at all. It wasn't really until i left the cinema afterwards that the emotional impact of the film started to hit home.

I feel like another five or ten minutes at the start, getting to know Orlando and what Marina actually felt for him, what she loved about him, would have helped. Without that Marina often felt like she was there to be a victim rather than a protagonist. Nevertheless i found Daniela Vega quite entrancing, the way with every hostile encounter she managed to convey thinking "this bullshit again" without any obvious expressions or words, in fact walking a delicate tightrope between divine patience for everyone she met and browbeaten submissiveness at the constant suspicion and distrust.

[Shit Good Nose]

Kermode's been raving about it in a similar fashion as he does The Exorcist and Sorcerer at every opportunity.  I know he's relatively easily pleased (the Twilight films, for example), but it's rare he goes THAT fawning.