Henrique Goldman’s Film Princesa

Based on a true story, this film is An amazingly realistic look at one Transsexuals life

Rarely if ever, is the life of a Trangendered person represented in a movie without it being campy or insulting. However director Henrique Goldman breaks this mold with the film Princesa (originally released in 2001, now running on the Sundance movie channel). To outsiders looking in, this movie comes off as melodramatic fairytale, but to those in the Ôø?TS lifeÔø?, this movie is very accurate and real.

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Princesa out on the Milan Stroll
When we first meet the heroine Fernanda, (who is played by Ingrid de Souza a real MtoF transsexual actress) she is on a train bound for Milan, Italy. SheÔø?s a Catholic from Brazil who plans to work there as a prostitute to pay for her sex-change operation. We donÔø?t find out Fernanda is a transsexual until an Italian border officer sees that her gender and her name do not match, and takes it upon him self to take Fernanda into an office to take advantage of her. Fernanda, acquiescent to her place in society, agrees.

Upon reaching her place of employment (the red light district of Milan, notorious as the world’s largest open-air market for transgendered prostitutes), She moves in with Charlo (Johnny Guimares), a flamboyant transvestite who tells Fernanda that Italian clients prefer a man in a wig to anything more feminine. Fernanda meets Karin (Lulu Pecorari), a middle-aged transsexual who acts as boss and protector to hookers. Karin warns Fernanda, Ôø?It doesnÔø?t pay to be too feminineÔø?. Here you have to use your dick. No dick, no dinner.Ôø? Fernanda is unfazed by this warning. None of the girls quite match the delicate features of Fernanda and after while, Karin decides to take Fernanda or “Princesa,” as she’s known on the streets Ôø? into her stable and under her wing, offering a place to stay and keeping 15 percent of Fernanda’s income for herself. For a while after that, time passes in a blur of johns, with Fernanda saving her money after each one.

Waiting for the next dollar

All goes according to plan: The money is soon rolling in, and one rainy night, her prince, a good-looking professional man named Gianni (Cesare Bocci), pulls up in an expensive car. Gianni does not know FernandaÔø?s Ôø?TÔø? and finds out during a hot and heavy make out session in the car, where his wandering hand stumbles down to her panties, and finds the opposite of what he was expecting. Shocked and disgusted, Gianni throws the half naked Fernanda out of his car.

Gianni and Princesa meet
This is not the last time we see Gianni, as he soon returns to apologize and date Fernanda. HeÔø?s intrigued and turned on by her beauty. If Princesa is a Cinderella story, Gianni is her prince charming.

Cinderella and Prince Charming?
Many scenes in this movie are instantaneously recognizable to any male who has been in a relationship, or intimate with a transsexual woman. The lust/disgust Gianni feels as a first timer. The flash and noise of the stroll, the desire to remove/ save Princesa from the life she is living. In one shocking real scene, Fernanda after being told that all men are faggots, wants to test GianniÔø?s sexuality by asking him if he wants her to fuck him. The look of confusion on his face as she fingers his anus is authentic, to say the least.

Princesa is based on the book of the same name, a semi-autobiographical story, co-written by the real Fernanda. Director Henrique Goldman sought her input and so the story metamorphised from a fairy tale into a searching look at personal identity. Unfortunately, in real life things are never as easy, and Fernanda committed suicide before the film was completed,

Ingrid de Souza, first time actress. Real life transsexual
A bold move on his part, the director used a cast of real Transsexual, and many critics have said that there is no other way that this movie could have been made. Casting Ingrid de Souza, a first time actress to play the lead in movie, helps create the realism apparent in this film. She was 19 at the time of filming this movie, and at times is a skinny little pimpled kid, leading with her heart. Other times, with her perfect body and long curly hair, at times sheÔø?s as gorgeous and stunning, resembling the supermodel Iman. Ms. de Souza is an undeniable screen presence; one who draws the audience to her much in the way the character seduces everyone around her. Her sad-eyed reserve seems charged with mystery, and it’s easy to believe that Fernanda would be an object of fascination and jealousy. Also Ms. de Souza was cast without an actual audition. Says the director, “I decided, because she was not a trained actress, to trust her own instincts as to the role. Ingrid has lived that predicament. Also, these people only want what everyone else wants: love. IÔø?ve learned that we really are all alike, and Ingrid helped me make a film that celebrates the ride of these girls lives.”

From the way television, movies and Jerry Springer portray trannies, you can’t blame most people from thinking that they’re psychos, but thanks to “Princesa,” we see the pain, the warmth and the joy that one particular transsexual goes through during her stay in a foreign land– especially her conflicted relationships with her pimp and with her most notable client/boyfriend. This film, spoken in Portuguese and Italian with English subtitles, deserves to be shown in theaters that are more mainstream than simply those which cater largely to the gay and trannie communities. This is the story of a young woman’s search for acceptance, and that gives it a universal resonance.

Princesa was shown on Sundance network as part of their Outloud Gay Pride Month line up. While they have no immediately plans to show it this film again, it is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles, and other online retailers.