A Fantastic Woman, Sebastián Lelio interview: “It’s a gender-fluid film”

The attitudes to LGBT groups have rapidly shifted in the last few years. As well as Moonlight winning Best Picture at last year’s Oscars, we’ve been treated with so many LGBT stories – especially on television, where Transparent and Orange Is the New Black have explored transgender issues. A Fantastic Woman is the latest in the progressive canon, exploring the prejudice towards transgender people.

Marina (Daniela Vega) is a happy, transgender woman in a relationship with Orlando (Francisco Reyes), a much older man. But when Orlando suddenly dies of an aneurysm, she has to face all of his conservative family members. She struggles to find anyone who doesn’t immediately alienate her.  

The Upcoming was delighted to interview writer-director Sebastián Lelio about A Fantastic Woman. We discussed the challenges of writing the script, the use of dreamy surrealism within a social-realist drama, and the film’s Oscar nomination.

Euan Franklin
Video: Filippo L’Astorina/Marta Starczynowska

A Fantastic Woman is released nationwide on 2^nd March 2018. Read our review here.

Watch the trailer for A Fantastic Woman here: