Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

A Fantastic Woman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson July 14, 2018

Note that this review contains some spoilers.

Chilean auteur Sebastián Lelio’s fifth feature Una Mujer Fantástica (A Fantastic Woman) is a timeless tale about love, loss, the inconsolable, and redemption. Divorced 57-year-old Orlando (Francisco Reyes), who holds a respectable job at a textile company, relaxes in a neon-lit sauna as he gets ready to meet his significant other, a trans woman nearly thirty years younger whose name is Marina Vidal (Daniela Vega). Orlando is flummoxed, though, because he can’t locate some important paperwork that he needs to on a trip with Marina, a nightclub singer and server at an upscale restaurant. As they dine in one Santiago’s Chinatown restaurants, Orlando laments that he can’t find the travel vouchers. But Marina is fine with it as she’s just happy to be with Orlando. A little later we learn that the couple’s planned trip was to be to the Iguazu Falls along the Argentine-Brazilian border. After a contented evening together, Orlando complains of chest pains and stumbles down the stairs. Marina rushes him to the hospital. She’s horrified to hear that Orlando doesn’t make it as he’s expired from an aneurysm.

Marina doesn’t know who to call since you had little to no contact with Orlando’s family. In a tizzy, she ventures out amid the city lights to get much-needed fresh air and perspective in the search for answers in wake of tragedy. Marina is downright surprised that she’s either become a suspect or person of interest in the case. Upon returning to the hospital, she’s badgered by the Carabiniers of Chile. At work, she’s visited by a female detective (Amparo Noguera) from the Sexual Offenses Investigation Unit, who won’t stop bothering Marina. The detective, along with a male physician, shamelessly makes Marina strip all her clothes in front of them. Orlando’s former spouse Sonia (Aline Kuppenheim) acts coldly toward Marina by asking her not to attend the wake or memorial. The deceased son, Bruno (Nicolas Saavedra), is even worse in ordering Marina to evict the apartment and heckling her on the street. Orlando’s brother Gapo (Luis Gnecco) is essentially the only family member to express sympathy and compassion.

A Fantastic Woman is a colorful and surreal film that blessedly never becomes a preachy melodrama. Its lack of didacticism is refreshing thanks to the central performance by the real trans person Daniela Vega, who is perfectly attuned to the character’s sensitivities without hitting any wrong notes. The story is seldom predictable, and the dreamlike sequences give the film an ethereal quality as Marina is often reminded of Orlando.

A Fantastic Woman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Fantastic Woman appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this BD-50 courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. When reviewing the film in theaters, critic Sheila O'Malley noted that the image is "filled with color, lights shifting from red to green to blue to yellow, bodies bathing in light, drowning in shadows." The lighting and color schemes are lovingly rendered on this spotless transfer. There are no source flaws present. Detail is consistently solid. Skin tones look sharp and clean. The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer sports a standard bitrate of 25935 kbps while the dual-layered disc averages 32.02 Mbps.

Sony has given the 100-minute feature sixteen chapter breaks.

A Fantastic Woman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony delivers a Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (3432 kbps, 24-bit). Directionality is well-balanced. The sound track includes both an original score by the British electronics composer Matthew Herbert and some older ballads played in the film, including (on radio) Aretha Franklin singing "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and Daniela Vega voicing Handel's "Ombra mai fu" and the Giacomelli aria "Sposa son disprezzata." The only small flaw to this track is that I thought there could have been better separation and discreteness on the speakers as they handled the film's ambience.

Sony supplies optional English subtitles, English HoH, and French subtitles. The English subs are displayed in a clear, white and easy-to-read sans serif font (see Screenshot #18).

A Fantastic Woman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Sebastián Lelio - Lelio speaks in Spanish during this feature-length track and optional English subtitles are provided.

• The Making of A Fantastic Woman (33:02, 1080p) - interviews with cast and crew members addressing various aspects of the production and story themes. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles.

• Bonus Trailers - at startup, trailers launched include Loveless (2:09), Foxtrot (2:04), Happy End (1:49), Julieta (1:58), Call Me By Your Name (2:12), and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2:05).

A Fantastic Woman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Fantastic Woman earned the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and racked up more than two dozen international awards. It stylistically compares with the intermediate period of Pedro Almodóvar's films and that is no faint praise. Artificial Eye has also released the film in the UK with presumably the same making-of doc and a trailer. However, Sony has the commentary track with Lelio which I'd consider a deal-breaker. Sony boasts a flawless transfer and a magical sound track. One of my highest recommendations for contemporary world cinema.