TO A quote from Roberto Bolaño's novel Amuleto (about the violent nature of a quiet story) appears as we watch the flow of a river. A visible finger plots routes on a world atlas, maps and travel guides. It clearly belongs to a woman. He wears two watches, one digital and one automatic. They both show the same time. The finger runs through different parts of the Iberian Peninsula. It takes longer than Madrid, San Sebastián and Porto. It crosses the Atlantic and reaches Mar del Plata and Viña del Mar (in Argentina and Chile, respectively). Cora (Lola Dueñas) moves into a room inside her apartment. These actions are gentle, hypnotic, yet they do not follow a pattern.. One two three four. One two three four. This is how Iriarte prepares viewers for this cruel but tender story of a stolen baby.
The film is divided into three episodes and an epilogue. In the first part, Cora desperately searches for information about her missing son. She works as a court stenographer and is willing to blackmail judges and officials. For years, she was lied to about the whereabouts of her son (maybe he didn't even exist?). In the second part, adoptive mother Vera (Ana Torrent) receives a wake-up call. She is a piano teacher and little by little she discovers how the system tricked her into believing that the adoption process was completely regular. A letter to young piano teacher and swordsman Egoz (Manuel Egozkue) reveals the identity of his biological mother. In the third part, our characters meet on the bank of the river. Someone demands revenge.
In short, Víctor Iriarte's first feature film is a fable of brotherhood about the passage of time, unspoken brutality and the service of justice after a long period of lies and oppression. The director looks at geography, volume and space through a very unconventional prism and with a rather austere touch. He skillfully uses classical music and silence to convey a variety of emotions. The elaborate script was written by Iriarte and two women, Isa Campo and Andrea Queralt. The filmmaker and the scribes offer the three protagonists a Bressonian-style redemption, as well as a lesson in dignity.
main at night screened at the 68th Valladolid International Film Week. It previously screened at Venice Days and also at the BFI London Film Festival.
This article is published in collaboration with Deve..
