A Fantastic Woman Dvd

A Fantastic Woman (Spanish: Una mujer fantástica) is a 2017 drama film directed by Sebastián Lelio, written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza, produced by Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín and starring Daniela Vega and Francisco Reyes. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. It was selected as the Chilean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film where it won in the 90th Academy Awards.

Plot

Marina is a young transgender woman living in Santiago, Chile, who works as a singer and a waitress. She is taken to dinner by her boyfriend, Orlando, an older man with whom she has recently moved in. He gives her the birthday gift of a note promising tickets to a famous resort because he has mislaid the actual tickets before or after visiting the sauna. That night, Orlando wakes up in a daze and complains he does not feel right. As Marina prepares to take him to the hospital, he stumbles down a flight of stairs. After driving Orlando to the hospital and checking him in, she is told by a doctor that Orlando has died of a brain aneurysm. She leaves the hospital in despair and calls Orlando’s brother, Gabo. She is then picked up by police, who drive her back and demand an explanation for why she left so suddenly. They also check her (old) ID card and thereafter call her ‘sir’. The brother arrives and speaks to her with enough familiarity to convince the police officers of her innocence and lets her take Orlando’s car home.

Marina is contacted by Sonia, Orlando’s ex-wife, and they arrange a time for Marina to drop off Orlando’s car. While working, Marina is visited by a detective. The detective, Adriana, reveals she works in solving crimes that include sexual assault, and was concerned by the bruises Orlando suffered during his fall. She also suggests Orlando was paying Marina as a sex worker rather than that they had a regular relationship. The detective thinks, as a sex worker who is transgender, Marina may have been beaten up by Orlando and in defending herself she caused his injuries. (To prove this did not happen, the following day Marina reports to the police station and is photographed nude to prove that there was no violent exchange between them on the night of Orlando’s death.)

Marina returns to the flat she shared with Orlando and is comforted by the Alsatian dog, Diabla. Bruno, Orlando’s son, arrives and questions Marina using the name Marissa. He decides to take the dog despite Marina’s protestations. He asks personal questions about which surgery she has had, then harasses her for a date.

After he has gone, Marina takes the car to be washed. She ‘sees’ Orlando and is disturbed. Then she drives the car to the car park, as instructed, and waits for Sonia. When Sonia arrives she checks over the car and becomes upset. She asks Marina to hand over the flat as soon as she can. Marina apologises but Sonia takes this to be for the ‘whole soap opera’, and says she thinks what happened between her ex and Marina was ‘perverted’. She tells Marina not to go to the funeral.

(This is when the police photos are taken). Gabo rings and tells Marina that Orlando will be cremated and he wants her to have some of the ashes. She goes to see her singing teacher who wonders if she is there to learn opera or for moral support…

Marina prepares to move out of Orlando’s apartment. She rings a local textile company saying she wants a wreath and thus discovers where the wake is being held. Her sister, Wanda, and partner, Gaston, greet her affectionately, and drive her from the flat. She tells them about Orlando’s son coming into the flat uninvited and they suggest she tell the police, but she wants nothing to do with the police. Marina gets out of the car early without her luggage.

Marina attends Orlando’s wake. Upon her arrival, Sonia stops the service and demands that Marina leave. On her way out, Gabo follows and apologizes to her. She is later accosted by Bruno and his friends from a car. His friends grab her and force her into the car. They threaten her and wrap her face in scotch tape, leaving her in an alleyway. Scared and alone, Marina then walks to a gay club where she meets a man, dances with him, and fools around with him. She thinks she sees Orlando again. Later she stays with Wanda and Gastón.

The next morning, Marina discovers the details of Orlando’s funeral in the newspaper. Wanda and Gastón warn her to let it go, and Marina says she will not attend. At work she serves a customer with a numbered key similar to one Orlando left her. She asks what it belongs to and the man says his sauna.

She visits the sauna nervously and books in. Wearing a towel and sweating profusely she locates the lockers and opens Orlando’s, but it is empty.

She goes to the funeral home after the ceremony has taken place. Entering the graveyard, she is confronted by Orlando’s family who are leaving in their car. When they insult her, she climbs on top of the car and yells angrily that she wants her dog back. Stunned, they drive away. Following an employee into the morgue, she is able to see Orlando’s body and say goodbye to him before his cremation.

Later, Marina is seen taking a run with Diabla. In the last scene, she sings an opera recital to a packed auditorium.

Cast

Daniela Vega as Marina Vidal
Francisco Reyes as Orlando Onetto Partier
Luis Gnecco as Gabriel Onetto Partier
Aline Küppenheim as Sonia Bunster
Amparo Noguera as Adriana Cortés
Nicolás Saavedra as Bruno Onetto Bunster
Antonia Zegers as Alessandra
Trinidad González as Wanda Vidal
Néstor Cantillana as Gastón
Alejandro Goic as Doctor