Victor/Victoria

Rating

Director

Blake Edwards

Screenplay

Blake Edwards

Length

2h 14m

Starring

Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras, John Rhys-Davies

MPAA Rating

PG

Review

There was a time when a film like Victor/Victoria started important conversations that ended with acceptance from all sides. Those days are gone, but we’re still left with a melodic and hilarious gender-bending musical comedy that still feels as fresh today as it did 40 years ago.

There were few more talented couples in Hollywood at the time than director Blake Edwards and actor Julie Andrews. Andrews had made her debut on the Broadway stage to great acclaim before transferring to the big screen to even greater success. Edwards had been significantly less successful in his career, but together they made sweet music in this adaptation of Reinhold Schünzel’s 1933 film Victor and Victoria.

The story here is of a failed chanteuse (Andrews) whose impoverished life comes to the attention of a cantankerous, aging gay performer (Robert Preston) who sees potential and begins training her as a drag performer. She will be pretending to be a man named Victor who is in turn pretending to be a woman named Victoria. Andrews’ multi-octave singing voice is a perfect instrument for this effort that plays on gender norms and expectations. Victor becomes a sensation with the Parisian set, but a suspicious American (James Garner) works behind the scenes to uncover the truth of Victor’s identity, but in doing so falls in love with Victoria.

The plot unravels in most humorous fashion as gender concepts are twisted, jumbled, and torn down. For prominent heartthrob Garner and former defensive tackle Alex Karras to embrace and thumb their noses at bigotry with such determined work is a testament to just how important a film like this was. The film emerged at a time when the AIDS epidemic was rising to familiarity with the public in general. Although it had been known in the LGBT community for some years, New York activists like Larry Kramer helped bring the devastating issue to mass attention. Cinema seemed to take a bit of a break from gay-themed films in wide release, which only helped to isolate the community as it struggled in a disproportionate way.

The openness and frankness of Victor/Victoria remains a beacon of 1980s cinema and for gay representation on the big screen. It was the last modestly successful cinematic effort about gay characters as the rise of anti-gay rhetoric surrounding the AIDS crisis forced numerous studios to abandon such efforts. It’s a shame as this film helped create a template for films that could succeed even in the midst of looming terror.

Victor/Victoria, apart from being a positive representation of queer culture, was a warm and generous film that brought to bear the talents of Andrews, Edwards, Preston, Garner, Lesley Ann Warren, and Karras. It was a sensational, engaging, and evocative film that rightly remains one of the bright spots of 1982 and of historical pro-LGBTQ cinema.

Review Written

May 17, 2022