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#321 - Victor/Victoria
Blake Edwards, 1982
In 1930s Paris, an impoverished female soprano ends up diguising herself as a man and pretending to be a female impersonator in order to make ends meet.
Given the year, it's not hard to think of this as something of an unintentional companion piece to Tootsie, if only because of the fact that both films take a person cross-dressing out of financial necessity and mines it for a considerable amount of dramedy. Victor/Victoria also has its fair share of similarities to other well-known musicals, but it's a credit to this particular film that none of these similarities feel like a major obstacle to the film. Instead, the film makes the most of the interplay between Julie Andrews as the soprano protagonist and Robert Preston as the homosexual cabaret performer who takes her in and becomes her mentor in the ways of being a female impersonator, as well as the various romantic and comedic complications that arise as a result of the convoluted plot involving characters of multiple genders and sexualities. The film generally plays things for laughs; while one could argue that the few instances of homophobia are downplayed or disregarded and might serve to sanitise the period setting somewhat, here it doesn't come across as a significant problem because it simply wouldn't work. Saccharine? Perhaps. Intolerable? Not at all.
If anything, my main problem with Victor/Victoria is that it's not that funny. There are plenty of comedic moments but nothing that provides anything more than mild amusement. The film thrives on both physical jokes (as is to be expected from the director of the Pink Panther films) and a real comedy of errors thanks to the various characters' conflicting affections and Andrews' need to maintain her masquerade no matter what (even in the face of a romance involving James Garner's straight nightclub owner), but they almost never result in genuine laughter. The musical numbers are decent but not amazing - at least Andrews' voice is still strong and she carries the numbers reasonably well. The characters in the film are also solid - Preston steals the show as the theatrical old singer who provides an ample source of clever dialogue, while Lesley Ann Warren does surprisingly well in a role that initially seems to be a complete carbon copy of Jean Hagen's shrill-voiced, jealous blonde from Singin' in the Rain but gets more to do beyond mere imitation. Victor/Victoria is a decent enough film that is a little lighter on laughs and entertainment than it should be (and it's a little on the long side as well), but it doesn't feel like a waste of time and keeps things rolling along with its slick technical quality and amusing enough usage of a talented ensemble.
Blake Edwards, 1982
In 1930s Paris, an impoverished female soprano ends up diguising herself as a man and pretending to be a female impersonator in order to make ends meet.
Given the year, it's not hard to think of this as something of an unintentional companion piece to Tootsie, if only because of the fact that both films take a person cross-dressing out of financial necessity and mines it for a considerable amount of dramedy. Victor/Victoria also has its fair share of similarities to other well-known musicals, but it's a credit to this particular film that none of these similarities feel like a major obstacle to the film. Instead, the film makes the most of the interplay between Julie Andrews as the soprano protagonist and Robert Preston as the homosexual cabaret performer who takes her in and becomes her mentor in the ways of being a female impersonator, as well as the various romantic and comedic complications that arise as a result of the convoluted plot involving characters of multiple genders and sexualities. The film generally plays things for laughs; while one could argue that the few instances of homophobia are downplayed or disregarded and might serve to sanitise the period setting somewhat, here it doesn't come across as a significant problem because it simply wouldn't work. Saccharine? Perhaps. Intolerable? Not at all.
If anything, my main problem with Victor/Victoria is that it's not that funny. There are plenty of comedic moments but nothing that provides anything more than mild amusement. The film thrives on both physical jokes (as is to be expected from the director of the Pink Panther films) and a real comedy of errors thanks to the various characters' conflicting affections and Andrews' need to maintain her masquerade no matter what (even in the face of a romance involving James Garner's straight nightclub owner), but they almost never result in genuine laughter. The musical numbers are decent but not amazing - at least Andrews' voice is still strong and she carries the numbers reasonably well. The characters in the film are also solid - Preston steals the show as the theatrical old singer who provides an ample source of clever dialogue, while Lesley Ann Warren does surprisingly well in a role that initially seems to be a complete carbon copy of Jean Hagen's shrill-voiced, jealous blonde from Singin' in the Rain but gets more to do beyond mere imitation. Victor/Victoria is a decent enough film that is a little lighter on laughs and entertainment than it should be (and it's a little on the long side as well), but it doesn't feel like a waste of time and keeps things rolling along with its slick technical quality and amusing enough usage of a talented ensemble.