Chloe McDermott

Written: 26/01/2023

‘The fabulous ones’ is a documentary film directed by Roberta Torre, about a group of middle – aged, Italian trans women who reunite after 20 years. This reunion was prompted by the discovery of a letter from their deceased friend Antonia, whose family robbed her of her true identity in death. The film has a strong sense of boldness and unique style of storytelling that really captures the raw emotional side of the story.

The scene in which the ‘Fabulous ones’ sit down in a circle to hear the contents of Antonia’s letter which details her final wishes if she were to die. Is one where the film shines at capturing raw emotion. As the letter is read aloud each women experiences outrage, out pouring of sadness and even laughter when they reconcile with each other. The letter as it turns out was written not long before she died which is a spooky coincidence as she died so suddenly and violently. It is clear in this scene that all of these women feel a sombre sense of injustice and regret when they realise their friend had left specific instructions for them to ensure she was buried in her best dress and to have Antonia on her headstone. The director does a good job of keeping the audience feeling like a fly on the wall throughout the film. In which this scene really benefits.

The women are shown to start doing a séance in the hopes of contacting the spirit of their dead friend and in the film, they re-enact what they claim to have experienced in this session. I felt many things watching this scene. I felt like it was wholly unexpected and at first an unwelcome distraction from the facts.  It seemed to imply the audience should suspend their disbelief. When I thought about it later in the context of the whole film however it made more sense. There is a certain element of the fantastical in this documentary that captures the emotional stages of grief these women had to go through.

‘The fabulous ones’ makes bold creative decisions in a documentary film that really captures the truthful experience and feelings of this group of trans women. Decisions like using super 8 film to film the re-enactment of certain memories like when we are first introduced to Antonia in her signature green dress with the voice of her old friend from describing her is a good one. Of course, it immediately makes the audience think of the time she would have been alive and thus showing a passage of time, but it also has an almost ghostly quality to it. This being symbolism for the fact she is now dead. This film showed me a whole new way of directing a documentary film that walks the line between the facts, emotion and the fantastical that all make up the human experience. It was a film I had to think a lot about before I made any decisions on how to feel about it because it is so new. However, I can say that it certainly was an enjoyable watch and explores important topics such as identity, grief, and a unique perspective of the trans experience.