"Victor/Victoria" was the film where Blake Edwards finally managed to deliver his valentine to his wife, Julie Andrews, and convince the public to join in. Maybe because of that, it's one of his most heartfelt movies, and the enormous love between the director and his star do as much to warm up this movie as the careful colour composition of Dick Bush's fantastic - and underrated - photography.
This is a film where everything works perfectly. The acting ranges from the impeccable (the leads) through the touching (Alex Karras) right to the truly sublime (Robert Preston and Lesley Ann-Warren). The musical numbers are lovingly staged and shot and, possibly because this is a pre-MTV film, we actually get to see dancers dancing, as opposed to machine-gun assemblies of body parts performing details of not necessarily connected movements. The directorial touch is assured, proficient but never showy: the many complicated set-ups are executed with elegance, economy - not a frivolous camera movement to be seen - and discretion. (The circular pan around Julie as she sings "Crazy World" is a lovely example of how camera movement can create emotion without drawing attention to itself.) The sets and costumes are lavish but, again, do not distract. The screenplay is witty, full of deft touches, and Edwards treats his rather daring (for 1982) theme without blinking, and with great lucidity. (The other drag film of the year was "Tootsie", which stuck to the romance and stayed away from uncomfortable homosexual touches as much as it managed to.) The timing never falters. And the score is priceless.
All in all, a flawless entertainment, which, like the best movies from the studio system's heyday of which "Victor / Victoria" is a proud and worthy descendant, rewards the attentive (and interested) viewer with far more substance - and style - than might appear at first. I do not have the space to analyse this film at the length it deserves; but I can recommend it, which I do wholeheartedly.
