Viva Film Review

While on holiday in Cuba, Paddy Breathnach visited a drag club. It was the beginning of a decade-long filmmaking adventure, culminating in his stunning new film.

Viva tells the story of Jesus, a young hairdresser who begins working in a Havana club where drag artists and trans women known as transformistas perform.

“I had seen a show in Cuba when I was on holidays,” says the Dublin director, “and I fell in love with the emotional power of that particular style of Cuban drag. That atmosphere and the emotional performances really drove my ideas.”

Breathnach and his collaborator, the actor Mark O’Halloran, spent years travelling back and forth, researching Cuba’s culture and getting to know the people and the performers of Havana.

“We focused on really getting to know people over a long time,” he recalls. “So our research actually led to these beautiful friendships – and with friendship comes this obligation, and this desire, to really honour the truth of their lives. And that really benefitted the film. We weren’t coming and making a film within a year; it was grown, really, over seven or eight years.”

The importance of Breathnach’s conscientious approach cannot be overstated. While trans actress Laverne Cox is now a household name due to her portrayal of trans prisoner Sophia in Orange Is The New Black, this is the exception when it comes to trans representation onscreen.

One of the most infamous examples of misrepresentation is Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary, Paris is Burning. Livingston’s film explored the world of black and Latino gay men and trans women, who competed in pageant-like balls involving dance, performance and drag. However, Livingston faced criticism for what was seen as a voyeuristic approach, which emphasised the unequal power dynamic between the director and her subjects.

One performer featured in the film, Venus Xtravaganza, was murdered during the production – a terrifyingly common occurrence for trans women. While Livingston went on to receive fame and critical acclaim, her subjects were never invited to speak at panels or, apparently, to attend screenings of the film, and did not receive any of the profits. After a very public lawsuit was dropped, the producers distributed approximately $55,000 among 13 participants.

Elewhere, films such as Psycho, Sleepaway Camp, Dressed To Kill, Insidious Chapter 2 and The Silence Of The Lambs all perpetuate the trope of the “scary, perverted transsexual.”

More and more filmmakers are becoming aware of how important trans representation is, with some even going so far as to apologise for their previous work. In a 2014 interview with The Daily Beast, director of The Silence Of The Lambs Jonathan Demme apologised for his characterisation of serial killer Buffalo Bill, which conflated being trans with being violent and psychotic.

“When the film was accused of continuing a history of stereotypical negative portrayals of gay characters, that was a wake-up call for me, as a filmmaker and as a person,” said Demme. “My gay friends who loved The Silence of the Lambs said, ‘You can’t imagine what it’s like to be a 12-year-old gay kid, and you go to the movies all the time and whenever you see a gay character, they’re either a ridiculous comic-relief caricature, or a demented killer. It’s very hard growing up gay and being exposed to all these stereotypes’. That registered with me in a big way.”

While the lead roles in Viva are played by non-transgender actors, Breathnach attempted to cast as many unknown drag artists and trans women as possible.

“There are drag artists and then some trans performers in the film,” says the director. “Though we don’t actually see any trans women perform, they’re part of the wider group of artists. One of the drag artists we see performing is a non-actor. When I started working on the film, I wanted to cast more non-actors and drag artists. I wanted to preserve the authenticity and power of the musical performances. But during the auditions, I wasn’t satisfied I was getting the drama I needed, and was losing as much as I was gaining.

“But equally with the actors, I was very wary, because they’d often immediately camp it up and fall into clichéd stereotypes and parodies of what a drag performer is. I think the actors we eventually cast all understood the emotional depth and honesty we wanted to convey, and knew that was more important than pre-existing ideas of what a drag artist should be. But there are still a few non-actors in the group scenes, because that felt important.”

Breathnach also sidesteps the trope of the sad, friendless trans person who only exists to be a source of pity, or a victim of violence. In Viva, the drag artists and trans women are fiercely protective of one another, offering shelter to those with none, as well as banter galore.

“What we really wanted to convey with the character of Mama,” says Breathnach, “was that sense of people trying to create new families and build new support systems. That seemed to be common for people who are drag performers or are trans, and face stigma from families or society. Creating community becomes vital to their survival and sense of acceptance.”