Movie review: Daniela Vega is woman on the verge in captivating transgender drama 'A Fantastic Woman'

You may lose track of the number of scenes in "A Fantastic Woman" in which the heroine of the title meets someone who has already prejudged her an enemy. A young transgender woman who works as a singer and waitress in Santiago, Chile, Marina Vidal (fiercely and sympathetically embodied by Daniela Vega) has just watched her lover succumb to an aneurysm.

The sad, dreary business of tidying up affairs necessitates an encounter with the deceased's embittered ex-wife, Sonia (Aline Kuppenheim), who greets her with unambiguous disgust. "When I look at you," she snarls, "I don't know what I'm seeing."

Rather than react visibly, Marina registers the insult