 |
The former title is a light dramedy littered with idiosyncratic cultural touches. It is entertaining, humorous, and preoccupied with middle-class characters of European descent. The latter is a social drama. It is harsh, grimy, and immersed in a landscape of mostly poor individuals trying to survive. Leonera unveils ‘under-explored national narratives.’ It is pointing the camera away from the typical protagonists of the movie-screen and choosing to investigate the lives of minorities who do not receive enough media exposure.
Un Novio Para Mi Mujer, or A Boyfriend for My Wife, situates the plot as the dominant driving force. It is led by its premise to such a point that the very title functions as a terse synopsis: a man is fed-up with his depressing and neurotic wife, so he employs a notorious playboy to seduce the talky woman and, thus, bring about an eventual divorce. Our main character does not seek freedom to acquire a prettier and younger bride, like the husband of Pietro Germi’s Divorce, Italian Style. He simply wants freedom for its own sake. He is a meek loser who cannot counter his partner’s aggression – which, to wit, is not even directed towards himself, so much as towards society in general.
Conversely, Leonera, or Lion’s Den, does not have a real plot. Again, we might look at the title. It is metaphoric rather than descriptive. Events occur only to expand our understanding of the human beings floating on the frame, not to weave a story-gimmick through varied checkpoints. It is looser. It allows itself to engage in world-building efforts that are not necessarily connected to the central dilemma. If we were to summarize the whole, we would have to say that we follow the travails of a university student named Julia. Upon being charged with murder, she is taken to a prison to await trial, placed inside a special ward reserved for inmates who are pregnant or have infant children. Once she gives birth, Julia begins to develop an intense affection for her son, renouncing her earlier emotional detachment. She is energized by motherhood. Unfortunately, the boy must be taken away at age four, either by family or by the court. Julia's proximity to her own blood is in jeopardy.
None of this says much about the act of watching the movie. We are never too aware of some schematic time-line of events, asides from certain key dates like the inevitable trial. Leonera is more about moods and relationships. Trapero tells his account patiently, unearthing details from his chosen locations, like an archaeologist at a dig-site. He pauses to watch a messy shower-scuffle. He focuses on the physicality of things, creating a palpable and immersive ‘place.’ He shows how Julia relates to her fellow prisoners. When she commences a lesbian affair with one of her ward-neighbors, the occasion is not announced as if it were some taboo-breaking feat. The problem with other mainstream portrayals of homosexuality is that everything is so heightened and fetishized that even positive representations come across as inescapably ‘other’ – ‘queerness’ remains strange and odd. In this case, the blooming love is natural and unforced. There are no histrionics. It happens because two people need someone and find each other.
Un Novio Para Mi Mujer is a more structured endeavor. It is boxed-in by its subservience to the aforementioned plot. Nothing exists that does not correlate with the governing through-line of the tale. Still, it is not a bad movie. On the contrary, as a genre-piece, it skillfully manages to use the constraints of its conventions to look at interactions, conversations, and mannerisms. Taratuto pulls back his camera and lets the vast majority of the dialogue play out in lengthy medium-long shots. The frame frequently displays two or more characters sharing a common space. Much of the information contained by the verbal exchanges is not verbal at all but bodily – overall pose, hand gestures, and subtle facial contortions are critical to establishing personality. Un Novio Para Mi Mujer is likable despite itself. It is throw-away fluff made interesting by a style that is in love with the performances, without being so in love that matters become insufferably overblown and overacted. It leaves a nice taste in the mouth, and even its scattered dips into silliness are at least as endearing as they are annoying.
These two films inhabit different realities. Neither is representative of Argentina. Only in combination do they shape a fuller picture – and even then, there are innumerable viewpoints that remain obscure. Leonera, of the ill-matched pair, is the more impressive entry, because its pain registers more consistently than the intermittent whim of Un Novio Para Mi Mujer. Both, however, find a way to illuminate internal struggles by utilizing the expressiveness of their actors. It is this eye for movement that serves as a uniting factor.
- Guido Pellegrini (0 comments)