Berlin Film Review: ‘A Fantastic Woman’

Multiple mirrors abound in frame after frame of “A Fantastic Woman,” repeatedly reflecting the woman of the title — young, beautiful, headstrong Marina — in all her, well, fantastic glory. It may seem an obvious, even clichéd, visual trope for the resourceful Chilean director Sebastián Lelio to fall back on, until it dawns on us that its very obviousness is precisely the point: We’re given every conceivable opportunity to see and perceive Marina for exactly who she is. So why do so many of those around her struggle to do the same? In this exquisitely compassionate portrait of a trans woman whose mourning for a lost lover is obstructed at every turn by individual and institutional prejudice, Lelio has crafted perhaps the most resonant and empathetic screen testament to the everyday obstacles of transgender existence since Kimberly Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry” in 1999. Mingled with a wily, anxious streak of noir styling….

http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/a-fantastic-woman-review-berlinale-2017-1201985505/