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Royal pain
"Princesa" follows a would-be transsexual prostitute whose agonizing desire to become a woman leads in unexpected directions.
By ROBIN EISGRAU
Offoffoff.com
In "Princesa," the moral of the story is be careful of what you wish for, you
might get it.
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| PRINCESA |
Directed by: Henrique Goldman.
Written by: Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque, Ellis Freeman.
Cast: Ingrid de Souza, Cesare Bocci, Lulu Pecorari, Mauro Pirovano, Biba Lerhue, Sonia Morgan, Alessandra Acciai.
In Italian and Portuguese with English subtitles.
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This film is the tale of Fernanda (aka Princesa), a Brazilian
transsexual who moves to Milan to work as a prostitute in order to earn
enough money for a sex-change operation so she can get married and lead a
normal life as a woman. While quickly earning impressive amounts of money
performing sex acts in cars and being looked out for by her benevolent
transsexual pimp Karin, Princesa is picked up one night by Gianni, a
handsome middle-class man who falls in love with her and offers her a
comfortable life away from the streets after he leaves his wife for her and
offers to pay for the sex-change operation. Facing the reality of
becoming a woman has a disturbing effect on Princesa and leads her ultimately
to make a rather surprising choice of lifestyle.
Goldman's film is involving
and colorful, but flawed. When Gianni tells Princesa he loves her, it seems
too soon — we don't really see how he falls for her, and some more background
of Princesa's life would make her a character we could really take to our
hearts. Nevertheless, "Princesa" is a poignant portrait. Ingrid De Souza, who
plays Princesa is truly a discovery; she has a stunning, melancholy beauty
and it's hard to take your eyes off her. The transsexual prostitutes are a
seedily glamorous crew who fill up the screen with personality. The scenes
of them and their clients are fairly explicit — don't bring the kids to this one.
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DECEMBER 10, 2001
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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