I've been watching romance films for the past week 'cause I'm in that mood but haven't really found one where I actually cared what happened. Also, I'm also getting so tired of flashback films, romance, or not. It's so trite, it's (figuratively) giving me a headache. If one is going to tell a story from the past then start there, don't start from after it's all said and done and then flashback. Reminds me of bad horror films.
I think the film went for the reality without adding too much fiction. Sadly people typically don't want reality especially in concern to actuality. The truth of the women this story is about, how they met, fell in love, and did everything they could to stay together even with one becoming a 'man' and the other getting pregnant to legitimize the marriage to her 'man', and then attempting to survive through that. Not very easy, especially for the time period. Did this film portray that well? Eh, so so. The excitement, if one calls it that, doesn't come until the last hour, the first hour was the meeting, falling in love, sex, happiness etc., and it was okay. At times it seemed not quick enough and other times a bit slow and rough but overall, it's not a bad film.
The reviewer who stated "circus freak" is a modern term one would refer to another (or themselves) is not accurate. The term comes from when circuses began using those referred to as "freaks" in their acts, and that started widely in the mid 19th century (1850s) but can be traced back as far as the 18th century in Russia. Since this film takes place in the late 19th to early 20th century, and based on sensationalism used quite frequently during that time period, it is quite possible the term was in use by every day people in reference to those different to 'normal' people of the time. The word "guess" has been used since the 14th century. It's use in varying phrases such as "I guess so" instead of "I suppose so" I'm sure didn't take 700-800 years to follow. The one word referred to but not mentioned, yeah that one while not "modern" has been used since the 1920s. So, not a word from this film's time period but not a modern word in the least, the longer version of that word did come from the 19th century. Also, I don't know how you watched this but when I did, it had subtitles. There are options to turn things off if watching it from a platform. If you saw it in a theatre, well, can't help you with that.
I think the film went for the reality without adding too much fiction. Sadly people typically don't want reality especially in concern to actuality. The truth of the women this story is about, how they met, fell in love, and did everything they could to stay together even with one becoming a 'man' and the other getting pregnant to legitimize the marriage to her 'man', and then attempting to survive through that. Not very easy, especially for the time period. Did this film portray that well? Eh, so so. The excitement, if one calls it that, doesn't come until the last hour, the first hour was the meeting, falling in love, sex, happiness etc., and it was okay. At times it seemed not quick enough and other times a bit slow and rough but overall, it's not a bad film.
The reviewer who stated "circus freak" is a modern term one would refer to another (or themselves) is not accurate. The term comes from when circuses began using those referred to as "freaks" in their acts, and that started widely in the mid 19th century (1850s) but can be traced back as far as the 18th century in Russia. Since this film takes place in the late 19th to early 20th century, and based on sensationalism used quite frequently during that time period, it is quite possible the term was in use by every day people in reference to those different to 'normal' people of the time. The word "guess" has been used since the 14th century. It's use in varying phrases such as "I guess so" instead of "I suppose so" I'm sure didn't take 700-800 years to follow. The one word referred to but not mentioned, yeah that one while not "modern" has been used since the 1920s. So, not a word from this film's time period but not a modern word in the least, the longer version of that word did come from the 19th century. Also, I don't know how you watched this but when I did, it had subtitles. There are options to turn things off if watching it from a platform. If you saw it in a theatre, well, can't help you with that.