A Fantastic Woman 2017

A Fantastic Woman | Una Mujer Fantástica | Eine fantastische Frau

A Fantastic Woman-Una Mujer Fantastica-Eine fantastische Frau

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About A Fantastic Woman 💬

Gloria director Sebastián Lelio returns with A FANTASTIC WOMAN, a deeply humane story about a trans woman's fight for acceptance.

Marina (Daniela Vega) and Orlando (Francisco Reyes) are in love and planning for the future.

Marina is a young waitress and aspiring singer. Orlando is 20 years older than her and owns a printing company.

After celebrating Marina's birthday one evening, Orlando falls seriously ill. Marina rushes him to the emergency room, but he passes away just after arriving at the hospital.

Instead of being able to mourn her lover, suddenly Marina is treated with suspicion. The doctors and Orlando's family don't trust her. A woman detective investigates Marina to see if she was involved in his death. Orlando's ex-wife forbids her from attending the funeral. And to make matters worse, Orlando's son threatens to throw Marina out of the flat she shared with Orlando.

Marina is a trans woman and for most of Orlando's family, her sexual identity is an aberration, a perversion. But faced with the threat of losing everything, Marina finds the strength to fight back.

• DIRECTOR'S NOTE

I see A FANTASTIC WOMAN as a film of aesthetic splendor, narrative vigor, tension and emotion. Polytonal, multi-experiential, multi-emotional. It's a film that is both a celebration and examination of its main character: Marina Vidal. What will the viewers see when they see Marina? A woman, a man, or the sum of both? They will see a human being who constantly changes before their eyes, who flows, vibrates, and modifies herself. But what they are seeing isn't precisely what they are seeing, and this condition turns Marina into a vortex that attracts the viewer's fantasy and desire, inviting them to explore the limits of their own empathy.

Sebastián Lelio

• INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIÁN LELIO

Q: How did you conceive A FANTASTIC WOMAN?

Sebastián Lelio: I like to think that the film, like Marina, its central character, is not afraid of pleasure and like her, has a striking and shiny surface. It tries to combine the narrative and the visual pleasure in games of appearances that want to captivate. A sort of Trojan horse loaded with humanity.

Q: What is your crusade, or your challenge, as the director of A FANTASTIC WOMAN?

Sebastián Lelio: I would like the viewer to end up intimately tied to Marina. So, regardless of his or her beliefs, values, or vision of the world, watching her so much on screen, the viewer ends up feeling like her. And from empathizing with her so much, the viewer wants to see her survive and prevail. The film invites us to feel like others, to experiment with emotions that are often new to us, and these discoveries occur not within the films, but within the viewers themselves. Film prepares us for life and allows us to explore our spiritual elasticity. I would like the viewer to surrender him or herself to a challenging journey, and to do so with open arms. I would also like the viewer to feel that he or she has seen something beautiful. To feel that he or she was in contact with beauty.

Q: What has the journey from Gloria to A FANTASTIC WOMAN been like?

Sebastián Lelio: I feel that in some ways this film is a more complex construction than Gloria because it is several films at the same time. But in spite of the fact that A FANTASTIC WOMAN exists in a different cinematographic territory that operates far beyond realism, it has, just as with Gloria, a higher inclination towards questions than towards answers. At the same time, it examines and exalts a powerful female character, yet for several reasons, A FANTASTIC WOMAN is much more than a film about a woman.

Q: At a moment in time in which the transgender issue is being discussed around the world, where on the map is A FANTASTIC WOMAN?

Sebastián Lelio: I don't like judging while filming. I don't like looking down when filming, feeling that the characters are wrong or inferior to me. I need to situate myself in a place from which I can understand them, even the antagonists. When we began writing this film, the transgender issue hadn't exploded in popular culture like it did a year and a half ago. Suddenly, the transgender figure moved from a misunderstood marginality to installing itself in a central place in our current collective imagery. I think that the film communes intimately with its character's identity. In Spanish, the word that is used to refer to sexual identity is the same one that is used to allude to narrative style: genre. In this sense, the film itself is ''trans-genre''. It's a romance film, a ghost film, a fantasy film, a film about humiliation and revenge, a document of reality, a character study. The identity of the film itself fluctuates, it doesn't set, it doesn't stop, and it refuses to be reduced to one single thing. The fact that it can't be explained in any single way is perhaps one of A FANTASTIC WOMAN'S most contemporary aspects.

• INTERVIEW WITH DANILA VEGA

Q: Who is Marina Vidal?

Daniela Vega: Marina Vidal is a 27-year-old waitress and singer. She is Orlando's partner, with whom she has an adult, loving, and committed relationship, in spite of their differences in age and social class. Marina, though far from being perfect, is a resilient woman who has quite an impressive level of compromise with her own life. She loves deeply, and this gives her the opportunity of loving herself and overcoming any adversity. She's a brave fighter who doesn't falter when the world puts her to the test. She has a vital force that is capable of carrying her through life, against all odds. Today, while all of us are somehow standing on the edge of a precipice, she doesn't even look at it and searches for beauty instead. She understands that even Orlando's death, or what her being transgender means to everyone else, will not keep her from pushing forward.

Q: What did playing Marina mean to you?

Daniela Vega: It was, by far, one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life. It was very complex on an emotional level because of the way in which I began to go deeper into the role, and the way in which I began converting all of my emotions in order to give the character a life of her own. On the other hand, it's been one of the most gratifying experiences...

• INTERVIEW WITH FRANSICO REYES

Q: What is the story between Orlando and Marina?

Francisco Reyes: It's a story of true love: Marina and Orlando simply love each other, and after meeting, they have discovered a refuge in one another. To them, the differences in their ages and sexual cultures are not barriers. It's inspiring to see how two beings whose intimacies are unknown to us, and whose lives we could prejudge maliciously, surrender themselves without hesitation, without fear, and without fuss. A relationship in which judgments on good and evil, on what's correct and what's incorrect, what's normal and abnormal, simply aren't issues. Where space for love is simply made evident and recognized.

Q: Who is Marina to him? Who is Orlando to her?

Francisco Reyes: To Orlando, Marina is an inspiring being that gives him new wings with which to enjoy life, that connects him to his love for what is honest, and allows him to find peace, affection, and company in her. Although he appears to be a regular man, he possesses great internal strength, freedom, and courage that allows him to see Marina and recognize her as an extraordinary and kind being. For her part, Marina, whose life is a constant struggle to live harmoniously within her social setting, recognizes in Orlando the simplicity and authenticity of this mature man and discovers a refuge in him: a true and calm love. The two are bound together in their courage and in the conscious or unconscious search for what is beautiful and authentic.

Q: What context does Orlando have to face, and how does he defend the relationship?

Francisco Reyes: Orlando has broken away from his family. With the exception of his brother, who admires him greatly. He has neither his ex-wife's nor his son's comprehension, nor that of the rest of the family, whom after his death, unleash all of the violence provoked by ignorance and vulnerability of the unknown onto Marina. But this is not an issue for him, and he surrenders to his relationship without considering anybody's opinion or stance. He doesn't question himself over whether the person he loves is a man, a woman, or a transgender person. This honest and authentic attitude surrounds him with a natural aura that prevents other people from interfering with him. There's no intellectual or ideological defense of his relationship with Marina. His great defense is the authentic love that he feels for her.

A Fantastic Woman Movie Details 🎥

Directed by

Sebastián Lelio

Writing Credits

Sebastián Lelio

Gonzalo Maza

Starring

Daniela Vega

Francisco Reyes

Luis Gnecco

Aline Küppenheim

Amparo Noguera

Nicolás Saavedra

Néstor Cantillana

Alonso Torres

Cristián Chaparro

Alejandro Goic

Sergio Hernández

Music by

Matthew Herbert

Nani García

Cinematography by

Benjamín Echazarreta

Categories: Oscars, Oscar Academy Award Winner, Golden Globes, Golden Globe Nominee

Genre: Drama

Countries: Chile, Germany, Spain, United States

A Fantastic Woman Official Trailer

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