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 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 home she shared with her late lover.
Marina is a trans woman and for most of Orlando’s family, her sexual identity is an aberration, a perversion. So Marina struggles for the right to be herself. She battles the very same forces that she has spent a lifetime fighting just to become the woman she is now – a complex, strong, forthright and fantastic woman.
One of the past year’s most acclaimed LGBTQIA+ movies – in a year full of them (see also: Tom of Finland, Beach Rats, BPM (Beats Per Minute), God’s Own Country and Call Me by Your Name) – writer/director Sebastián Lelio‘s A Fantastic Woman has proven an awards juggernaut. The film was selected as the Chilean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film where it won in the 90th Academy Awards! The movie also won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay and the highly prestigious Teddy Award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
Check out the trailer for A Fantastic Woman below and click here to order your copy. It’s coming out THIS WEEK on Blu-ray!