"The Order of Things" is about gender violence, and from the beginning we have decided to abandon the path of realism and make a symbolic and intentionally surreal interpretation of reality to provoke a reflexive response in the viewer, very different from that provoked by the crude reality shown as it is. The short film tries to shock by refusing at all times to show violence explicitly. Through the use of visual metaphors (drops of water), the aim is to convey the helplessness and suffering caused by the abuse and all its effects, showing the bruises but not the blows. In the story, there are two main objects: the belt and the bathtub. On the one hand, the belt is the symbol of the traditional values that over many generations have been subjugating the female gender in favor of the male. He wants this legacy of values to continue, and hopes that his son Marquitos will accept the belt with all that it implies. And although at first he seems to succeed in educating him to that effect, fortunately in the end he decides to refuse. This refusal increases Marcos' frustration.
Like a lion tamer with his whip, Marcos uses the belt to tame Julia's values. However, she refuses to jump through hoops by hiding the belt. She does not rebel by attacking her tamer, but stands by, waiting. Actually, both wait for the other to change, but that won't happen unless one gives in. And it would be a satisfactory relationship as long as it was always clear who dominates whom. But the fact that she refuses to accept that makes him desperate, making it all a real pain for him.
The other important element in the story is the bathtub where Julia finds her refuge and, at the same time, her prison. Throughout the story, the water in the bathtub is a faithful reflection of the feelings and moods of the protagonist. Julia, drop by drop, little by little, gathers the necessary courage to react. The bathtub slowly fills until it overflows, just as Julia's feelings also overflow in an irreversible and irrepressible cascade of pain and rage accumulated over a lifetime of suffering. And after flooding the bathroom, Julia rises to the surface, appearing in the middle of the ocean, something as liberating as it is terrifying, since after freeing oneself from an abusive relationship a person is afraid to face the world alone, feeling insignificant like a shipwrecked person in the middle of the ocean. She will have to swim a long way to find solid ground and be able to mark her own path in the sand.
"The Order of Things" aims to highlight the change of values that has fortunately taken place in today's society by revealing the injustice of certain values that should remain obsolete. It intends to say that there is light at the end of the road, and that although the road is full of suffering, it is never too late to find hope. The bathtubs stranded on the seashore are the symbol of the life left behind, and the footsteps in the sand the hope of the new life that begins. The fact that there are several bathtubs means that she is one more of the women who have been freed from their particular prison.
"The Order of Things" is a short film about hope. The false hope that a tragic life can change by itself, and the true hope that a decision made in time can make us start a new life that will surely be better.
Text taken from the short film's press dossier.
Like a lion tamer with his whip, Marcos uses the belt to tame Julia's values. However, she refuses to jump through hoops by hiding the belt. She does not rebel by attacking her tamer, but stands by, waiting. Actually, both wait for the other to change, but that won't happen unless one gives in. And it would be a satisfactory relationship as long as it was always clear who dominates whom. But the fact that she refuses to accept that makes him desperate, making it all a real pain for him.
The other important element in the story is the bathtub where Julia finds her refuge and, at the same time, her prison. Throughout the story, the water in the bathtub is a faithful reflection of the feelings and moods of the protagonist. Julia, drop by drop, little by little, gathers the necessary courage to react. The bathtub slowly fills until it overflows, just as Julia's feelings also overflow in an irreversible and irrepressible cascade of pain and rage accumulated over a lifetime of suffering. And after flooding the bathroom, Julia rises to the surface, appearing in the middle of the ocean, something as liberating as it is terrifying, since after freeing oneself from an abusive relationship a person is afraid to face the world alone, feeling insignificant like a shipwrecked person in the middle of the ocean. She will have to swim a long way to find solid ground and be able to mark her own path in the sand.
"The Order of Things" aims to highlight the change of values that has fortunately taken place in today's society by revealing the injustice of certain values that should remain obsolete. It intends to say that there is light at the end of the road, and that although the road is full of suffering, it is never too late to find hope. The bathtubs stranded on the seashore are the symbol of the life left behind, and the footsteps in the sand the hope of the new life that begins. The fact that there are several bathtubs means that she is one more of the women who have been freed from their particular prison.
"The Order of Things" is a short film about hope. The false hope that a tragic life can change by itself, and the true hope that a decision made in time can make us start a new life that will surely be better.
Text taken from the short film's press dossier.