Fantastic Woman, A (15)

Drama

Marina, a transsexual woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend.

The critical consensus

Defiant, determined, Vega delivers a star-making performance in a drama of embattled grief, directed with heart.

Kevin Harley, Total Film, 26/02/2018

Given it could be re-titled ‘Microaggressions: The Movie’, this is an unsurprisingly upsetting watch at times, but it’s made compelling by Vega’s dignified, heartfelt performance.

(*) Helen O'Hara, Empire Online, 26/02/2018

Keeps you waiting for a moment that never comes.

(*) (*) Hannah Woodhead, Little White Lies, 27/02/2018

Regardless of the story’s sexual politics, Marina is the type of movie heroine that any audience will root for (one reason why it has secured an Oscar nomination.)

(*) Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 28/02/2018

A Fantastic Woman is a brilliant film: a richly humane, moving study of someone keeping alive the memory and the fact of love.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 01/03/2018

A compassionate, compelling tale for anyone who loves a good Pedro Almodóvar melodrama.

(*) Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 02/03/2018

It’s Vega’s defiant performance that carries it through.

(*) Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 02/03/2018

A magnetic screen presence, Vega is called upon to unify the film’s shifting moods – no mean feat. It’s a challenge to which she rises with ease, capturing our attention, engaging our sympathies, and stealing our hearts.

(*) Mark Kermode, The Observer, 04/03/2018