Product Details

• Actors: Ingrid de Souza, Cesare Bocci, Lulu Pecorari, Mauro Pirovano, Biba Lerhue
• Directors: Henrique Goldman
• Writers: Henrique Goldman, Ellis Freeman, Fernanda Farias de Albuquerque, Maurizio Jannelli
• Producers: Angus MacDonald, Luke Schiller, Michael André, Paolo Soravia, Rebecca O'Brien
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Italian, Portuguese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Strand Releasing
• DVD Release Date: October 15, 2002
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006JU8L
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,121 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Princesa" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Poignant, Brave Little Film, October 21, 2002

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Princesa (DVD)

PRINCESA is an Italian film that hints of Fellini's best movies and yet has a style that is less bravure and more sensitive and touching. The world of prostitution has been widely examined by writers and directors, but the world of prostitution where the main characters are all transexuals or transvestites has only been sugggested in the works of Almodovar and a few other daring avant garde directors. PRINCESA (the street name of the main character, a young man from Brazil who moves to Milan to make enough money as a hooker to pay for his much desired gender change operation) takes on only the subject of how these extravagantly dressed prostitutes survive the street life that supports them. There are friends of Princesa who are also from Brazil and the dialog is in both Italin and Portugese and well transtlated in subtitles. The story is simple: Princesa falls in love with a 'john' who at first rejects her when he discovers she has male genitalia even though her face and breast implants costume her as a beautiful woman. The rejected Princesa moves in with the Madame of the prostitutes (Karin - likewise a transexual) and finds support and caring and a good life. When Princesa's 'john' (Gianni) returns to apologize for his initial behavior, they slowly develop a relationship, fall in love, and the rest ....you must see the film to discover.

The characters are so beautifully acted that it is difficult to tell if the actors are male or female! The cast is strong, never creating parodies but instead allowing the inner person to emarge in a credible way. The photography and music score are excellent. A very fine litlle movie this!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is why I like indy films, October 3, 2004

By 

Beres (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Princesa (DVD)

If you liked 'The Crying Game' you'll probably like this. Not that they deal with similar material, but the sense of a seedy paralell world existing next to the one most of us inhabit is there. Cesare Bocci is fine as hell. I wish he were in more films. Ingrid de Souza is a beautiful and sympathetic character but you get frustrated with her choice at the end. Overall, definately worth adding to your dvd collection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gratifying and sensitive movie, December 24, 2010

By 

Stephanie Donald (Cocoa Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Princesa (DVD)

Princesa definitely shows the difference between the open sexual attitudes of Italian people and those of the more parochial and puritanical American people. Most Americans will hate this movie because it goes against the homo-erotic grain. There's a good reason why it was filmed with sub-titles: It would have bombed in an American release except in the most intellectual of audiences and it was only shown on the Sundance channel.

It's a fabulous weaving of character and explains the interconnection of a transgender's life. Even a gay or lesbian would fail to understand what it means to be transgender so don't even try; just watch and accept that this is what it is.

Whoever wrote this script definitely either knew a transgender person or was transgender because they hit the nail right on the head. The director must have also had someone who was transgender looking over his shoulder and suggesting nuance because the detail is astonishing.

It isn't a spectacular life being a hooker. I was a cabbie for a few years in Virginia and I hauled my fair share of transgender hookers to-and-from their nightly hot-spots. It offered me the opportunity to talk with them and ask all the right questions. Many of their "Johns" were Navy guys who hated gay men but wouldn't hesitate to bed a "chick with a d**k". Odd that heterosexuals would find such a distinction but they do.

The major difference between American guys and Gianni in the movie is that Americans can't get over their homophobia long enough to realize that they might love someone who was born with the same equipment.

In the end, though, Fernanda proves the more mature of the two of them. Feature that: A woman who out-matures a man. Hard to imagine, huh?

If you have the intellect and the patience for the subtitles, trust me and watch this movie. You won't regret it. It will be the best two hours you can spend and the best purchase you can make for a well-rounded international library!