Oscar Best Foreign-Language Film: A Fantastic Woman
Marina is a transgender woman. With Orlando giving her love and accepting her for who she is, everything seems to be falling perfectly in place for the woman. That is, until tragedy strikes. With Orlando's untimely death (brought about by brain aneurysm, as the doctors find out), everything and everyone are going against Marina. Is it because their affair is illicit (Orlando has a prior family)? Or is it because of Marina's sexual identity? Either way, Marina must fight for her right to see the man of her life one last time, to properly grieve over his death.
Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman" (2017, Chile;shown in last November's Cinema One Originals), recipient of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film (beating Ruben Ostlund's biting satire "The Square" (Sweden), Andrei Zvyagintsev's bleak family drama "Loveless" (Russia) and Ildiko Enyedi's offbeat romance "On Body and Soul" (Hungary)), is a sympathetic and gentle, at times surreal and dreamy tale of one woman's struggle to surmount the barriers of being regarded as an Other. Orlando's ex-wife and son want Marina out of the apartment that she previously shared with her lover. The doctors and the police view her with suspicion in regards the man's death (to further the insult, one doctor callously refers to her as "he" rather than "she"). Such a series of misfortunes would be enough to break one's spirit, but not Marina's. Through it all, she displays admirable fortitude, resilience and grace. It's like she's the calm amid the storm. That's why the film's title couldn't be more apt.
Sometimes, we wish for Marina to give her tormentors a hard slap on the face. We feel that she's more than entitled to do so, given the humiliation that she suffered, for instance, in the hands of Bruno, Orlando's son, who, together with his friends, had Marina's face covered with tape all over and left her in a side-street afterwards. But no, the film isn't that kind of melodrama. Marina's fight-back has more to do with principle than with physicality. Whatever Orlando's family and friends may think of, nothing can stop Marina from attending his funeral and seeing his remains one last time. She firmly believes that she has earned the right to do so. Indeed, she does get to see Orlando, though with a stroke of the supernatural (in one of the film's surreal moments). Again, it makes more sense to think that all of Marina's debacles are brought about not by everyone's disapproval of her relationship with Orlando, but by the mere fact of her being a transgender. The woman's sense of being an Other is visually represented by the director by situating her oftentimes against the background of wide empty spaces.
Even so, it's clear that all of Lelio's sympathies are with his lead female character. Just like last year's winner, Asghar Farhadi's "The Salesman" (Iran), the triumph of "A Fantastic Woman" in this year's Oscars couldn't be more political (though definitely this isn't saying against the virtues of each film). At a time when the world is witnessing the spectacle of a US President being shamelessly vocal about what he considers to be "inferior" and "sh*thole" nations and races, a Los Angeles-based award-giving body honoring a film like "A Fantastic Woman" might just be sending out a message that one need not be afraid or disdainful of "others", indeed that one need not label them as such (that this year's Best Picture winner is Guillermo del Toro's fantastical allegory "The Shape of Water" may also say something about this). We need not be reminded every now and then how it has been long-standing in this world such virtues of respect, tolerance and acceptance.
As is wont to happen in any LGBT-themed films, "A Fantastic Woman" could easily veer towards sensationalism, campiness and luridness. But Lelio (who co-wrote the Berlin-winning screenplay with Gonzalo Maza) treats his subject with affection and respect. In spite of the sticks and stones thrown at Marina's character, the director makes sure that she'll still come out triumphant at the end. It sometimes feel that he venerates his lead to a fault, as if Marina is never capable of even one misstep. But then, that could be Marina's only choice if everyone is simply against her. Being morally deft should become a part of her nature.
Equally noteworthy is the fact that, unlike in such films as "Boys Don't Cry" and "Transamerica", the actress in "A Fantastic Woman" isn't someone who merely plays a transgender, but is a transgender herself. And as the lead character, Daniela Vega invests her role with a quiet dignity and grace, in such a way that sometimes we wonder how she manages to contain within herself all those grief and longing. If my memory serves me right, there was only one instance in the film where she actually cried (right after she learned of her lover's death). Marina may have dived head first into such a "risky" relationship, but she nevertheless manages to make her way through it with her head up high. This is certainly one lived-in performance.
Queer cinema will always occupy a distinctive place in film history. It's an art and culture in itself. Some of its works tread the path of controversy and transgression, while some approach the sublime and the divine. "A Fantastic Woman", it's fair enough to say, belongs to the latter.
(Daniela Vega soars in Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman")
Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman" (2017, Chile;shown in last November's Cinema One Originals), recipient of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film (beating Ruben Ostlund's biting satire "The Square" (Sweden), Andrei Zvyagintsev's bleak family drama "Loveless" (Russia) and Ildiko Enyedi's offbeat romance "On Body and Soul" (Hungary)), is a sympathetic and gentle, at times surreal and dreamy tale of one woman's struggle to surmount the barriers of being regarded as an Other. Orlando's ex-wife and son want Marina out of the apartment that she previously shared with her lover. The doctors and the police view her with suspicion in regards the man's death (to further the insult, one doctor callously refers to her as "he" rather than "she"). Such a series of misfortunes would be enough to break one's spirit, but not Marina's. Through it all, she displays admirable fortitude, resilience and grace. It's like she's the calm amid the storm. That's why the film's title couldn't be more apt.
Sometimes, we wish for Marina to give her tormentors a hard slap on the face. We feel that she's more than entitled to do so, given the humiliation that she suffered, for instance, in the hands of Bruno, Orlando's son, who, together with his friends, had Marina's face covered with tape all over and left her in a side-street afterwards. But no, the film isn't that kind of melodrama. Marina's fight-back has more to do with principle than with physicality. Whatever Orlando's family and friends may think of, nothing can stop Marina from attending his funeral and seeing his remains one last time. She firmly believes that she has earned the right to do so. Indeed, she does get to see Orlando, though with a stroke of the supernatural (in one of the film's surreal moments). Again, it makes more sense to think that all of Marina's debacles are brought about not by everyone's disapproval of her relationship with Orlando, but by the mere fact of her being a transgender. The woman's sense of being an Other is visually represented by the director by situating her oftentimes against the background of wide empty spaces.
Even so, it's clear that all of Lelio's sympathies are with his lead female character. Just like last year's winner, Asghar Farhadi's "The Salesman" (Iran), the triumph of "A Fantastic Woman" in this year's Oscars couldn't be more political (though definitely this isn't saying against the virtues of each film). At a time when the world is witnessing the spectacle of a US President being shamelessly vocal about what he considers to be "inferior" and "sh*thole" nations and races, a Los Angeles-based award-giving body honoring a film like "A Fantastic Woman" might just be sending out a message that one need not be afraid or disdainful of "others", indeed that one need not label them as such (that this year's Best Picture winner is Guillermo del Toro's fantastical allegory "The Shape of Water" may also say something about this). We need not be reminded every now and then how it has been long-standing in this world such virtues of respect, tolerance and acceptance.
As is wont to happen in any LGBT-themed films, "A Fantastic Woman" could easily veer towards sensationalism, campiness and luridness. But Lelio (who co-wrote the Berlin-winning screenplay with Gonzalo Maza) treats his subject with affection and respect. In spite of the sticks and stones thrown at Marina's character, the director makes sure that she'll still come out triumphant at the end. It sometimes feel that he venerates his lead to a fault, as if Marina is never capable of even one misstep. But then, that could be Marina's only choice if everyone is simply against her. Being morally deft should become a part of her nature.
Equally noteworthy is the fact that, unlike in such films as "Boys Don't Cry" and "Transamerica", the actress in "A Fantastic Woman" isn't someone who merely plays a transgender, but is a transgender herself. And as the lead character, Daniela Vega invests her role with a quiet dignity and grace, in such a way that sometimes we wonder how she manages to contain within herself all those grief and longing. If my memory serves me right, there was only one instance in the film where she actually cried (right after she learned of her lover's death). Marina may have dived head first into such a "risky" relationship, but she nevertheless manages to make her way through it with her head up high. This is certainly one lived-in performance.
Queer cinema will always occupy a distinctive place in film history. It's an art and culture in itself. Some of its works tread the path of controversy and transgression, while some approach the sublime and the divine. "A Fantastic Woman", it's fair enough to say, belongs to the latter.
(Daniela Vega soars in Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman")
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