This strange Spanish film conceived and directed by Javier Rosales came on the other day on an international cable channel. The film, which seems to have garnered good comments in this forum is one of those films that suffer from an indulgent creator who thinks he must show its audience everyday ordinariness, even mundane things, as part of a visual story for the cinema.
The 135 minutes running time needed a stronger hand to edit parts that clearly do not go anywhere. The story is mildly interesting, but do we need to watch the mother, Antonia, as she does the laundry and then gets it to be hung on a clothesline? We do not think so. Like this sequence, there are others that plainly do not go anywhere as staged. The terrorist incident comes out of nowhere, one imagines for shock sake, as though Mr. Rosales had run out of ideas and did not know what to do with Adela, the center figure in the story and the difficult moment she was facing, but otherwise it just does not contribute to the success, or none of the picture.
In a way, Mr. Rosales work in this film reminds this viewer of one of his fellow Catalan directors, Max Recha, in his approach to present a story in cinematographic terms. Both men think that more is more, failing to understand that the axiom that less is more. The story as presented shows Adela a woman separated from a husband that does not help her financially with her toddler son, Miguel. She decides to pack her life in the small town to go to Madrid, a questionable move, to begin with. The main downfall of the picture is its rigid structure that is almost devoid of emotion.
Adela is lucky in finding a generous flatmate like Ines, and her friend Carlos, after she decides to settle in Madrid. She left her small town to get away from a relationship that went sour. In fact, her story and that of Antonia, the mother of Ines, become intermingled, although neither woman seems to know about the other. Antonia, a middle aged lady, is enjoying a good relationship with a man that loves her for what she is. Antonia two other daughters are another story, the ambitious Helena is sucking her mother dry because she feels she is owed a piece of whatever might be obtained from selling the family house, something that is totally unacceptable to Ines, the family rebel, who sees right through her snobbish sister. The third sister, Nieves, must face an uncertain future when she has diagnosed with cancer.
What Mr. Rosales gets is a good ensemble acting from his cast. Sonia Almarcha plays Adele with dignity, as well as with stoicism. Petra Martinez has good moments as Antonia. The daughters are played by Miriam Correa, Nuria Mencia and Maria Bazan. The most annoying aspect of this hermetic film is the way Mr. Rosales usage of the split screen that keeps his characters faces out of the camera, robbing the audience of the pleasure of watching the actors work.
This is a film that if not seen on a festival, or on cable, will not get a commercial run except in Spain.
The 135 minutes running time needed a stronger hand to edit parts that clearly do not go anywhere. The story is mildly interesting, but do we need to watch the mother, Antonia, as she does the laundry and then gets it to be hung on a clothesline? We do not think so. Like this sequence, there are others that plainly do not go anywhere as staged. The terrorist incident comes out of nowhere, one imagines for shock sake, as though Mr. Rosales had run out of ideas and did not know what to do with Adela, the center figure in the story and the difficult moment she was facing, but otherwise it just does not contribute to the success, or none of the picture.
In a way, Mr. Rosales work in this film reminds this viewer of one of his fellow Catalan directors, Max Recha, in his approach to present a story in cinematographic terms. Both men think that more is more, failing to understand that the axiom that less is more. The story as presented shows Adela a woman separated from a husband that does not help her financially with her toddler son, Miguel. She decides to pack her life in the small town to go to Madrid, a questionable move, to begin with. The main downfall of the picture is its rigid structure that is almost devoid of emotion.
Adela is lucky in finding a generous flatmate like Ines, and her friend Carlos, after she decides to settle in Madrid. She left her small town to get away from a relationship that went sour. In fact, her story and that of Antonia, the mother of Ines, become intermingled, although neither woman seems to know about the other. Antonia, a middle aged lady, is enjoying a good relationship with a man that loves her for what she is. Antonia two other daughters are another story, the ambitious Helena is sucking her mother dry because she feels she is owed a piece of whatever might be obtained from selling the family house, something that is totally unacceptable to Ines, the family rebel, who sees right through her snobbish sister. The third sister, Nieves, must face an uncertain future when she has diagnosed with cancer.
What Mr. Rosales gets is a good ensemble acting from his cast. Sonia Almarcha plays Adele with dignity, as well as with stoicism. Petra Martinez has good moments as Antonia. The daughters are played by Miriam Correa, Nuria Mencia and Maria Bazan. The most annoying aspect of this hermetic film is the way Mr. Rosales usage of the split screen that keeps his characters faces out of the camera, robbing the audience of the pleasure of watching the actors work.
This is a film that if not seen on a festival, or on cable, will not get a commercial run except in Spain.