A Fantastic Woman

Daniela Vega was brought onto this film as a consultant, not an actor. Sebastián Lelio approached her to explain what living as a transgender woman in Chile is actually like. As she worked with the writers she changed the story they were telling, and she ended up playing the lead. Marina's partner dies suddenly and she is not allowed to grieve. His family does not want her at the funeral, police and doctors question her as though she were a suspect, and her identity is turned into a standing issue. The film is not about Marina defending herself but about being forced to. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018. At that same ceremony Vega became the first openly transgender presenter at the Academy Awards, and Time named her one of the hundred most influential people of the year. The award had a direct political consequence in Chile: then-president Michelle Bachelet used the news to revive a forgotten bill. The Gender Identity Law came into force on 27 December 2019. Who it is for: viewers who like drama carried by a single performance, where anger is expressed by standing straight rather than shouting. Who it is not for: anyone wanting plot. The film proceeds as a series of humiliations and offers no resolution.