HBO
Veneno
Cristina Ortiz, better known by her nickname La Veneno (which translates to “poison” in English), is a figure like no other — and in Veneno, the Spanish-language HBO Max drama about her life, the legendary trans sex worker-cum-media sensation finally gets the invigorating biopic she’s always deserved. Based on the biography ¡Digo! Ni Puta Ni Santa (The Memories of La Veneno) by Valeria Vegas, the miniseries takes place on two timelines: in the past of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, when Veneno is discovering who she is as a gender-nonconforming child in Adra, Spain, then runs away to Marbella and Madrid, where she’d find her community and commit to transitioning; and in the present day of 2006, in Valencia, where a trans aspiring journalist, Valeria (Lola Rodríguez), decides to interview her for a book about her illustrious life.
Yet while the central focus is undeniably on Veneno herself, the creators and writers smartly use Veneno’s story as a mere entrypoint for larger discussions about what it means to live as a proud trans woman. Tracking Cristina’s life — from disowned child to a nightly fixture on a popular Spanish late-night TV show — Veneno opens itself up to discussions about sex work, identity, abuse, and whether “exposure” can also double as exploitation. But what truly feels radical about Veneno is its framework. Relying on an interview structure as the backbone for a biopic could have come off as lazy; here, it’s a small, simple detail that helps illuminate the value in giving trans people control of their own narratives. That Veneno goes even beyond this, allowing Valeria to work through her own identity as she learns more about Veneno’s, is an added benefit. It effectively grants Veneno the ability to approach the story of its titular character with some level of remove — an element, it can be argued, that is necessary when telling the story of a trans sex worker.
When she begins her interview process, Valeria is, like the audience, an outsider looking in. But as a fellow trans woman, her awe of Veneno’s wide-ranging life comes across as one of admiration and identification rather than voyeurism. Like its namesake character, there is nothing else in the world like Veneno.
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