Directed by:
Julio MedemScreenplay:
Julio MedemCinematography:
Kiko de la RicaComposer:
Alberto IglesiasCast:
Paz Vega, Tristán Ulloa, Najwa Nimri, Daniel Freire, Elena Anaya, Javier Cámara, Charo Zapardiel, María Álvarez, Javier Coromina, Juan FernándezVOD (1)
Plots(1)
Following up on his 1998 art-house hit Lovers of the Arctic Circle, Julio Medem spins this audacious film about flesh and forgetting. Lucia (Paz Vega) is a young Madrid waitress who is devastated to hear of the death of her old flame Lorenzo (Tristan Ulloa). Hoping to flee her troubles, she seeks out a beautiful island paradise her dead lover often talked about. There she meets and befriends Carlos (Daniel Freyre) and Elena (Najwa Nimri) who are also refugees of personal tragedies. Unbeknownst to all of them, the three each have a connection to Lorenzo. Years previously, Elena had a spontaneous fling with Lorenzo on the same island on the beach. Nine months later, she bore his daughter, Luna (Silvia Llanos), but unable to raise a child on her own, she enlisted the help of a nurse, Belen (Elena Anaya). In attempting to reconnect with the child he never knew, Lorenzo had a passionate affair with Belen, one which caused her to neglect Luna, with tragic results. As Lucia slowly learns these details, she recalls the book Lorenzo was writing just before his death, and soon the lines between fact and fiction begin to slip away. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Videos (1)
Reviews (1)
This film was a see-saw ride for me, from indifference to the plot to utter fascination. I like it when directors don't make it easy for the viewer, but it took me a while to get used to the strange narrative style with the interweaving of several time planes, but then I was "riding" and enjoying the beautiful cinematography, the unknown to me but all the more enchanting charismatic actors, and the slowly escalating story itself, which Medem skillfully coaxed to a close in the absence of violent tears on the viewer. The erotic scenes, which may be daring for some, are shot very tastefully, but the film's greatest strength is definitely a kind of poetic power that permeates it whenever we get to the island, where Medem revels in beautiful visual compositions. It's just a pity that from a purely subjective perspective I didn't find catharsis in the main character's relationship with the mother of his daughter. But otherwise excellent and I am definitely curious about Medem's other works.
()
