Review of Victor/Victoria (1982) by Amy S — 18 May 2010

Often advertised as a musical, this is actually one of those films that just happens to be about singers. There is a difference between random characters bursting into song and no one noticing, and a singer standing on a stage in front of an audience. Unfortunately, it is often a difference in how interesting the film is.

This one is about Victoria, a good singer (of course she is, sheâ??s Julie frigginâ?? Andrews) who canâ??t get any work. So Toddy (Robert Preston) her new gay best friend, decides to advertise her as a female impersonator, and suddenly her amazing singing voice takes on a whole new appeal. Unfortunately the film misses out a pretty major plot development in that we never actually see Victoria learning to act like a man, and frankly, she doesnâ??t look like a man, because sheâ??s Julie frigginâ?? Andrews, and she doesnâ??t put much effort into acting like a man. Okay, so Victor is gay and a female impersonator so he would act like a woman, but come on, the only reason people have to believe she is a man is because she says so. I guess the idea is that if a beautiful woman told you she was a man â?? well, why the hell would she do that, so you would believe her.

However, the romantic interest King (James Garner) doesnâ??t believe her and therefore apparently this whole male/female impersonation does need to rest on more than a word. And here we find the other big mistake of the film. King is a homophobic misogynist and utterly despicable. He can only be loathed, so I certainly didnâ??t want him to be right. When a homophobic misogynist is right that a woman pretending to be a gay man is really just a woman, well, that just furthers his homophobic misogynist ends. And a villain canâ??t get much more villainous than the homophobic misogynist, unless heâ??s a racist too. So why is he the romantic interest?

Thereâ??s a serious problem when I want the female lead to turn out to be a man, just to prove the male lead wrong. And just to undermine any interest you could have in this nasty little romance, once King is proved right and starts dating Victoria, weâ??re treated to several scenes of how they have nothing in common and how their relationship canâ??t possibly work, but no scenes of why they are attracted to each other. King gets upset having to pretend to be gay which again raises another issue. Why should he pretend to be gay when he isnâ??t? This would be a lot more interesting if Victoria really was Victor and they really were a gay couple and that was what King had to struggle with.

Andrews and Preston are both excellent, but this is a long film, sparse on plot, so Victor/Victoria can feel a bit dull, and ultimately, the central theme doesnâ??t really work. Also, someone should shoot King â?? what a bastard.

I just wish that it was Victor, without the Victoria. This doesnâ??t mean I donâ??t like Victoria however, because sheâ??s Julie frigginâ?? Andrews and can do whatever she wants, because sheâ??s awesome.