Film

Victor/Victoria

Name: Victor/Victoria
Genre: Music, Comedy, Romance
Released: 1982
Cast: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras

A Blake Edwards musical comedy set in 1934 Paris, where a broke soprano (Julie Andrews) reinvents herself as a female impersonator — a woman playing a man playing a woman — to land cabaret work. It's glossy, generous farce with real wit, gorgeous production numbers, and a surprisingly gentle touch on gender and desire decades before that was fashionable. Best for anyone craving old-Hollywood polish with a knowing wink.

TMDb rating

7.3

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Tootsie1982

Same year, same disguise-for-survival engine, seen from the other side of the mirror — an actor becomes a woman to get work, with real tenderness beneath the farce.

But Some of its gender politics feel of-their-time now, even as the craft and warmth still hold up.

La Cage aux Folles1978

A French farce about a drag club owner and his partner, warmer and raunchier than its American remakes, sharing Victor/Victoria's joyful faith that performance can be identity.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Paris Is Burning1991

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Mrs. Doubtfire1993

Robin Williams in a dress, doing chaotic-dad farce instead of cabaret glamour — proof the disguise-for-love formula bends into any decade, genre, or level of absurdity.

But Broader and sappier than Victor/Victoria, and pitched squarely at families rather than sophisticates.

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The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert poster

Yentl1983

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But Streisand's vocal-heavy earnestness is a very different flavor from Edwards' light, urbane comic touch.

Kinky Boots2005

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The Sound of Music1965

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I Was a Male War Bride1949

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