Exorcism of Gender Rigidity: A Review of Octavio is Dead!

It’s always a surprise when you see the boy you have a crush on having sex with your estranged father’s ghost.

In Octavio is Dead!, a queer Canadian psychosexual ghost story, a young woman tries to come to grips with the death of the father she never met and in the process discovers that gender and desire are more fluid than she had originally thought. Written and directed by Sook-Yin Lee, the film premiered on June 2, 2018 at the Inside Out Film Festival in Toronto.

Octavio is Dead! opens with the meek and softspoken Tyler (Sarah Gadon) being let go from her job at a bookstore in Hamilton, Ontario. Returning home to her domineering mother Joan (Rosanna Arquette), she soon learns that her father, Octavio (Raoul Trujillo), has died and left her everything he owned, including his apartment. Tyler moves into her father’s old apartment to learn more about him, only to discover that his ghost is still there, trapped and unable to leave.

The set design of Octavio’s apartment is one of the highlights of the film. With dim lighting, hundreds of clothbound books scattered everywhere, dead plants, and a red-stained bathtub, the apartment feels eerily claustrophobic. From the moment Tyler first enters the apartment and looks down to see her father’s socks bunched up over his sandals, Octavio’s somber lingering presence is palpable.

While rifling through her father’s things, Tyler discovers a photo of him and a younger man named Apostolis (Dimitris Kitsos). She later finds Apostolis and follows him inside a men-only club after cutting her hair short and donning one of her father’s suits. In a spellbinding and erotically charged friendship turned courtship, Tyler finds herself more and more attracted to her father’s former student and lover.

The relationship between Tyler and Apostolis is beautifully developed. Apostolis speaks of Octavio with love and admiration, and it’s wonderful to see a queer male character express so much tenderness for his deceased lover. While at a party, Apostolis reads one of Octavio’s poems to Tyler, and she oscillates between being touched by Apostolis’s gesture and being jealous that he had such a close relationship with her father.

One of my favourite moments of the film was when Tyler walked in on her father’s ghost having sex with Apostolis. Despite the underlying element of the macabre due to Octavio being dead, the cinematography of this scene made the tryst gorgeously languid and erotic. Seeing Tyler and Apostolis navigate the complexities of their desires with vulnerability and maturity while recognizing how their relationship is defined by Octavio made Octavio is Dead! so refreshing.

Tyler’s exploration of gender is one of the most striking parts of the film. In an understated but perfect moment of generosity and unquestioning acceptance, Chrissie (Marni Van Dyk), Tyler’s new neighbour, tailors Octavio’s suit so that it fits Tyler. While dressed as a boy, Tyler at first lowers her voice and tries to act stereotypically tough and masculine—she almost gets into a fight with a man at the club but runs away—but as she spends more time with Apostolis, she relaxes and returns to her normal speaking voice and mannerisms. It’s lovely to see her let go of her own expectations of what being a man should entail and simply be herself.

The thematic crux of the film is the struggle to live with—and, if possible, overcome—historically and socially imposed limitations. Octavio fled his home country of Mexico as a political refugee due to the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968 and was never able to return. Octavio’s being unable to leave his apartment even after death is a harrowing metaphor for refugeeism and the immense loneliness and grief that refugees may feel when they are forced to relocate to a new place with no guarantee that they will ever be able to return to their original home.

While for Octavio the apartment is a metaphor for the restrictions that demarcate his life, for Tyler the apartment is a sanctuary for her to be herself. By leaving her overbearing and possessive mother to live in the apartment, Tyler gains a newfound independence. As she becomes more and more comfortable genderbending, she gains the confidence to assert her desires uncompromisingly and not to falter in the face of societal expectations. She cleans up Octavio’s apartment, transforming it into her own space, and even discovers a hidden room, symbolizing how she has uncovered new aspects of herself.

With strong acting, atmospheric set design, and a captivating narrative, Octavio is Dead! is a vibrant and life-affirming film about self-exploration. Through the exorcism of socially imposed gender expectations, the film breaks through rigid gender barriers to advocate for a more empathetic, curious, and expansive approach to self-creation.

Written by Alex De Pompa

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