Goth & Automata: December 2021

This year, the Transgender Awareness Week lasted from 13th to 19th of November. Incidentally, the 2021 Five Flavours Festival began in the middle of it, on 17th. So, it was only logical that I started the festival movie marathon with "Alifu: the Prince/ss" – a 2017 film by Wang Yu-lin about life as a transgender person.

I have to admit, due to the fact I myself am transgender, my expectations were high. But guess what? I'm actually quite satisfied with the film.

Mostly. Except for one thing.

But let's start from the beginning.

The movie focuses on three storylines. Alifu (Utjung Tjakivalid) is a transgender woman in her twenties. She works as a hairdresser with her best friend, a lesbian Li Pei-zhen (Chao Yi-lan), and saves money for a gender reassignment surgery. She still hasn't come out to her family, which becomes troublesome when one day her father, a leader of a Paiwan community, asks her to step into his place. Alifu often helps in a drag bar owned by Sherry (Bamboo Chen), a trans woman of an older generation, who deals with both health problems and an unrequited love for her flatmate, Wu (Wu Pong-fing). At the same time one of the drag queens, Chris (Cheng Jen-shuo), struggles with hiding his identity as a performer from his girlfriend.

While Alifu is the titular character, all three stories are treated as equally important. It creates a diverse, fast-paced movie, full of constantly changing sceneries and moods. However, once you get used to fast montage, the film is quite easy to follow. The fact all characters are somehow connected to Sherry's bar definitely helps, tying all storylines together.

What I especially liked about "Alifu: the Prince/ss" is how realistic it is. The filmmakers consulted it with Taiwanese queer folks, including transgender people, and it shows. The stories are very close to real life and deal with actual issues: fear of coming out, lack of acceptance by family members, high costs of gender resignment therapy etc. The movie doesn't sugarcoat, showing everything as it is. Characters aren't perfect, they make mistakes or sometimes uses insensitive language, which makes them more human. On the other hand, the story doesn't fall into a trap of being too dramatic. Yes, the characters have some troubles, but they don't overshadow their entire lives. Alifu lives her everyday life peacefully, accepted by her friends and co-workers. Same goes for Sherry – she's a strong, independent woman and no one questions it. It's quite refreshing to see such approach, especially given the fact how often mainstream media tend to turn queer stories, especially ones about transgender people, into overdramatized tearjerkers.

I'm not saying being trans is always sugar and rainbows, but nobody's life is. We deal with some problems, but it doesn't mean everyone has to pity us.

The film smoothly integrates drama and comedy, making it interesting and more down-to-earth. Often emotionally charged scenes are lightened by hints of humour in dialogues. One of early scenes in the hospital is a good example: the characters have just learnt about Sherry's failing health, Wu frets over her in worry... And then Sherry complains that she wants to change the hospital, because she doesn't like the gowns here. Thanks to that remark, whole scene gets more realistic – people often try to ease the tension with jokes. However, the humour is never tasteless and doesn't invalidate actual problems. Issues like Sherry's illness, Alifu's father's lack of acceptance or Chris' problems with his double life are always treated seriously.

However, despite the creators' excellent sensitivity, they didn't avoid a fuck-up. A horrible one, given the fact it touches the problem of consent and breaching one's boundaries.

Or just let me put it bluntly: there's a very rapey scene that totally doesn't match the story.

Unfortunately, to elaborate I need to spoil one plot twist, so

SPOILER ALERT!

Over the course of the movie, Pei-zhen realises she's in love with Alifu. There's nothing weird in it – she's a lesbian and Alifu is a woman after all. However, after confessing it to Alifu, she pressures her into having sex. Alifu first refuses, visibly uncomfortable (she even says she's not into women), before giving in. Whole scene is treated very lightly, like it was some banter between friends and not a major assault on one's body integrity. While I don't want to sanitise media, I think that having such scene in a movie like this, presenting it in light-hearted way and not addressing its problems is unacceptable. Rape is a serious issue and transwomen are in especially vulnerable position.

End of spoilers.

Seriously, it's shame that no one questioned this particular moment while shooting.

Apart from this plot point, I really enjoyed the movie. It's well-acted, emotional and immersing. The audiovisual side is also pleasant, especially the soundtrack – I especially love the main song, Waa Wei's "Silent Movies". It matches the tone of the film pretty well.

In general, I'd love to say that you're looking for a realistic slice of life about queer people, you can give "Alifu: the Prince/ss" a shot. However, because of this very uncomfortable scene of dubiously consensual sex (which, while not treated seriously by the narrative, may be very upsetting), I can't recommend it with pure conscience. But I'm not discouraging anyone from watching the movie either. Just be mindful, okay?