Princesa (I) (2001)
failing to become a "real" woman
5 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Princesa is a movie about a prostitute from Brazil that flies to Italy to work and earn enough money to become a "normal woman". She fantasizes a normal life that frees her from the world of prostitution and being a woman trapped inside of a mans body. Compared to the other prostitutes in the movie, she is filled with hope and dreams - to live life as a lady.

After a humiliating experience, she meets a man that wants to take her out on a date and treat her like a lady, just as she had dreamed. However she does not easily give in completely, but he lets her know how passionate and in love he is with her and she finally accepts that she is in love as well. Her friends however tell her that the man she has fallen in love with is just gay and wants to spend time with her for fun and her suspicion leads her to feel uneasy around him. However from every scene we can tell that this man is completely head over heals in love with Princesa and even breaks it off with his wife and lives with Princesa and offers to pay for the expensive sex changing surgery.

However in the end she cannot fully accept his love because she realizes she will never be a true woman, and offer him a baby that he has always dreamed of. She comes to understand that she cannot have the fairytale life that she had always dreamed of, and to live a normal life as a woman. This crushes her and brings her back into the sex industry.

Judging by other movies and documentaries, and comparing it to this movie, we can see why transgender girls have a tendency to go back into the sex industry - to afford the sex change and also because they cannot fit into other types of work. They are not accepted by society in this way. In the scenes were Princesa is glared by her boyfriends friends girlfriend shows how women are not even on her side. She cannot get the support from women in general. This movie really gave insight into how prostitution can damage someone emotionally.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed