Movies

The Avocado Movie Club #25: A Fantastic Woman (2017)

Welcome to the Movie Club! Today’s movie is Sebastián Lelio’s drama A Fantastic Woman!

Portuguese release poster

A Fantastic Woman stars Daniela Vega as Marina, a trans woman whose older boyfriend, Orlando (played by Francisco Reyes) suddenly dies from a brain aneurysm in the middle of the night. We follow Marina in the days immediately after his death, as she deals with the grief from his loss, along with various micro and macro aggressions from both his family and various civil servants who are quick to judge her based on the circumstances surrounding Orlando’s death.

Sony Pictures Classics first picked up A Fantastic Woman two days before its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, 2017, securing a limited release for it in North America, Australia and New Zealand, with its US release being on February 2, 2018. Its budget is unknown, but it did earn $3.8 million in the box office, and was critically acclaimed, earning a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.12 It later went on to win Best Foreign Film at the 90th Academy Awards, and Daniela Vega became the first transgender person in history to present at the Academy Awards!

Trivia:3   

  • Daniela Vega is a mezzo-soprano opera singer, and performed her own songs in the film.
  • Daniela Vega was initially brought on as a consultant when the film was still being planned, but she impressed Sebastián Lelio so much that she was hired on as the lead actress.

What did you think? Share your thoughts below! 

Up Next: To continue the LGBT theme for Pride, our next movie will be The Wachowski sister’s debut film, Bound! We will meet to discuss it on June 27, at 12PM EST. Check out the trailer and where it’s playing below:

USA

  • Stream: Kubo, Canopy, Paramount + (also via Apple TV, Prime Video and The Roku Channel)
  • Rent or Buy: Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store

Canada

  • Stream: Nada! 
  • Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Cineplex Store, Microsoft Store

UK

  • Stream: Prime Video, BFI Player
  • Rent or Buy: Amazon, Rakuten TV, Apple TV
  1. https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/mujer-fantastica-Una-(Chile)#tab=summary  ↩︎
  2. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_fantastic_woman ↩︎
  3. https://seventh-row.com/2018/02/10/sebastian-lelio-a-fantastic-woman/ ↩︎