IIn a 2010 interview with Lady Gaga, American journalist Anderson Cooper asked the singer about the “rumor” that she had a “male accessory.” “I might have that,” she replied. She replied“Would it be that terrible? Why would I waste my time issuing a press release about whether or not I have a penis?”
Would it be that terrible? Blake Edwards wonders in his 1982 musical comedy Victor/Victoria, based on a 1933 German film of the same name. Edwards’s new musical version features his wife, the British singer Dame Julie AndrewsShe plays Victoria Grant, a starving soprano forced to dress as a woman in order to survive in 1930s Paris.
After failing another test and nearly getting fired, Victoria goes to dinner. Her pockets are empty, except for a cockroach she plans to release into her salad (hoping that this will also make her meal free). While eating the free dinner, Victoria meets Liberace-like Carol Todd (Robert Preston), an unemployed gay showman. After taking her to his home, Todd devises a plan to turn Victoria into a major star. His plan is simple: she must drop the last two letters of her name and perform as a female impersonator.
“People believe what they see,” Todi reassures a hesitant Victoria. What could be more convincing than a man impersonating a woman? A woman impersonating herself! With the help of her new gay boyfriend, Victoria becomes Count Victor Grazinski, a feminine man with a glass-shattering voice that defies logic.
Victoria slicks her short hair back, wears a man’s suit and changes her voice “just enough to sound a little bit masculine.” After her first performance as Victor in “Le Jazz Hot!,” the film’s most famous musical song, Victoria gives what can only be described as a reverse wig reveal, announcing herself as a man impersonating a woman.
“It’s a man!” exclaims Victoria’s rival Norma Cassidy, relieved to discover that the artist who caught the eye of her neurotic boyfriend, King Marchand (James Garner), is no longer a threat. Like many men before him, King is horrified by Victoria’s sex-reveal trick.
The Victor/Victoria story quickly reveals itself as a story of masculinity in crisis, not only for Victoria as a woman who faces the challenge of living as a man if she is to succeed, but also for the king who cannot escape his own seemingly homosexual attraction. Hiding in a closet in Victoria’s hotel room, he watches her undress, but fails to confirm his suspicions that Victor is a woman hiding in plain sight.
The film shows the depth of the friendship between Victoria and Todi, partners in crime who pretend to be partners in life. Although their friendship seems overly sentimental at times—especially during their performance of “You and I”—it reflects the enduring mutual affection between gay men and their female friends.
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But it’s no wonder that it’s the gay man pushing the envelope on femininity; behind every celebrity is a gay man with an opinion. But Victor/Victoria treats this friendship with less irony, reminding us instead that the art of cross-dressing—often seen as a shameful, dark act—is always collaborative. Every cross-dresser needs an ally to dress them up, hold their hand, and make them feel beautiful.
Do Clothes Make the Man? More than four decades after its release, Edwards’s film remains in dialogue with contemporary culture and its current concerns. Like films like Tootsie (1982), Yentl (1983), and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Victor/Victoria lacks the sophisticated jargon of today’s genres and is largely unable to articulate its own ideas about sex and gender. Nevertheless, the film is a complex tale of imitation and illusion, attraction and confusion, and a puzzling provocation masquerading as a slapstick musical comedy.
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Victor/Victoria is available to stream on Binge in Australia, and on Apple TV+ in the UK and US. For more recommendations on shows to stream in Australia, click here
