All About How 'A Fantastic Woman' is a Work of Art Centering a Trans Woman's Experience

You should see A Fantastic Woman.

Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio's Academy Award-nominated drama tells the story of a truly fantastic woman, Marina, a trans woman singer and waitress coping with the very sudden death of her boyfriend.

Marina is played by 28-year-old Chilean newcomer, Daniela Vega, who would have been the first trans woman and first trans person to receive an Oscar nomination had she been nominated in the Best Actress category. She wasn't nominated, though her performance, raw and unassuming, was one of the best I saw all year. (For reference, here are the actresses who were nominated.)

When the movie opens, we are introduced to a loving couple, Marina and Orlando, who are celebrating Marina's birthday with a romantic night out in Santiago. Suddenly, within 15 minutes of the opening credits, Orlando falls seriously ill. He dies at the hospital. And within a flash, the world Marina and Orlando built for themselves is gone. Over the course of the next 60 minutes, a grieving Marina is forced to not only deal with the death of her partner, but also a barrage of people questioning both her very womanhood and the authenticity of her relationship with the man she loved.

Nominated in the Best Foreign Language film category at this year's Oscars, A Fantastic Woman is a work of art all about a human experience. I have never seen a trans woman's story told in such a way. In the face of tragedy and downright cruelty, Marina is a picture of grace. And so too is A Fantastic Woman.