Continuation of the hit “Veneno” arrives at Max

“Dressed in Blue” (Spain, 2023/24) “Dressed in Blue” follows Valéria (Lola Rodriguez), the journalist who told Cristina Ortiz’s story, La Veneno, when she is looking for a new topic to write about. After the death of one of Cristina’s friends, a trans woman of certain At this age, the young journalist discovers the documentary “Vestida de Azul”, filmed in 1983, by Antonio Giménez Rico, which explains the lives of six trans women during the Francoist Transition.

Valéria, guided by her intuition, decides to continue with her project: she will later find a publisher who wants to publish it and then embarks on a tireless search to find Eva (Geena Love), Loren (Rossa Ceballos), Tamara (Chloe Santiago), Renée (Keyla Odena), Josetee (Alma Gormedino) and Nacha (Penélope Guerrero).

However, the issue seems to be more complicated, as there are no traces of some and of others there is only a death certificate, so the journalist will have to interview the families if she wants to know more about the life and work of this group.

Fortunately, Juani met the eldest, Loren, so he is able to tell Val a little more about his early years, the adventures in the army, the unjustified dismissal because of his gender identity, and how he allowed himself to live freely afterwards. to go to work in a foreigner’s house.

From that moment on, Valéria will redouble her efforts and in the company of Paca and Sacha (Alex Saint) will try to find some trace that sheds some light on the lives of Tamara, Renée and the other girls. Along the way, she will also come into contact with Teresa (Susana Abaitua), who participated in the production of the documentary and may have more than one answer. However, Valéria will soon discover that there are limits that she must not exceed if she wants to keep her journalistic ethics intact, which will make her waver once again, because between the workload and the personal problems she faces, she is about to go crazy.

Thus, “Vestidas de azul” operates in two halves. In the past, we return to the lives of the women who participated in the documentary, we learn a little about their story and how they managed to become a family. While in the present we see the difficulties that Valéria faces, both personally and professionally. We have several different stories, one per chapter, set in Madrid in the early 80s, almost all about discovering trans identity.

The attraction repeats the usual names behind the cameras and in the script. In addition to Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, whose role is in production, there are Claudia Costafreda, Ian de la Rosa and Mikel Rueda, in the direction, and Susana López Rubio, Javier Holgado and Javier Ferreiro in the script, in addition to Valeria Vegas herself.

To some extent, the series is a modernization and fictionalization of Giménez Rico’s documentary. Furthermore, the filmmaker himself is incorporated into the story, played by Luis Callejo and with part of his team also fictionalized, giving it an extra metacinematic reading that also speaks to the way in which non-normative identities were perceived at that time.

“Dressed in Blue” not only questions how much progress has been made in terms of recognizing rights for trans people, but also makes visible the interrelationship between gender and class. The series is not only a more than worthy continuation of “Veneno”, but a production that shines on its own and launches a reminder that, no matter how much the far right opposes it, trans resistance lives and will continue until dignity is achieved. make it commonplace.

*Eduardo de Assumpção is a journalist and responsible for the blog cinematografiaqueer.blogspot.com

Instagram: @cinematografiaqueer

Twitter: @eduardoirib

By Ezatamentchy