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Princesa (2001)
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Synopsis: This Italian film from director Henrique Goldman traces the journey of teenage transsexual Fernanda (Ingrid de Souza) as she heads from her native Brazil to the seedy world of Italy's transsexual prostitution scene. Unlike most of her fellow prostitutes, Fernanda's most cherished desire... This Italian film from director Henrique Goldman traces the journey of teenage transsexual Fernanda (Ingrid de Souza) as she heads from her native Brazil to the seedy world of Italy's transsexual prostitution scene. Unlike most of her fellow prostitutes, Fernanda's most cherished desire is to have a sex-change operation, fall in love with a man, and live the "normal" life of an Italian woman. When a new client, Gianni (Cesare Bocci), approaches her one night, it seems that her dreams will come true. However, as Fernanda makes the transition from streetwalker to housewife, she discovers that what she left behind might be more fulfilling that what she thought she always wanted. Goldman's treatment of his chosen subject is never judgmental and rarely one-sided--he not only shows great affection and understanding of the transsexual prostitutes, but also seeks to humanize and understand the numerous Italian men who come to them as clients. From the carnival-like Milan street market of the hookers to Fernanda's placid and ordered life with Gianni as a homemaker, PRINCESA avoids lingering on the characters' unusual lifestyles and instead focuses on their complex inner lives. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Ingrid de Souza, Lulu Pecorari, Cesare Bocci
DVD Info
Release:
Mar 10, 2003
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Single Side - Single Layer
- Letterboxed - Anamorphic - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Surround - Italian
Additional Release Material:
- Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Tailer
- 2. Bonus Trailers
Reviews
With its warm humour and gritty realism, it's like a combination of the two extremes in the prostitute genre: Nights of Cabiria meets Pretty Woman!
Whatever [Fernanda] was like, this movie is a fantastic tribute to her.
Fernanda’s trials and lessons are ticked off with a brisk, businesslike air that leaves little time for emotional and character development.
[L]ed by the wooden, unattractive Ingrid de Souza as Fernanda, the film has no place to go but down.
It's all quite the soap opera, made all the more melodramatic because it's a quasi-true story.
Squanders a colorful setting and characters with uninspired acting and direction.
Fernanda's life unfolds with discretion, compassion and humor under the sensitive yet lively direction of Goldman.
Princesa, like its heroine, is not at all what it seems at first. For its immediately straightforward melodramatics leave in the film's wake a haunting afterglow of a life not easily resolved by a screenplay's third act.
The film suffers from a 'based-on-a- true-story' tag, and it not only polishes up the truth but also crushes everything down to soap-opera melodrama.
A sympathetic look at what it's like to be a Brazilian transsexual prostitute working in Milan.
Up until its oddly flat ending, Princesa is an honest depiction of the way dreams can backfire.
[Goldman] tells Princesa's story with admirable simplicity, carefully skirting away from any easy sentimentality or victimization.
Manages to tell its story (based on a real character) with great sensitivity.
Deliberately non-gritty but still humane and loving in its depiction of people who don't fit into traditional categories of male/female and whore/john.


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