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Gloria, 2013
Gloria (Paulina Garcia) is in her late 50, separated from her husband and with two adult children. Lonely, she meets Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez) at a local disco. The two embark on a passionate romance, but Rodolfo's co-dependent relationship with his ex-wife and grown daughters threatens their happiness.
This film lives and dies on the shoulders of Paulina Garcia's incredibly well-realized and lived-in performance as Gloria. In the lead role, Garcia manages to capture a character who is both vulnerable and has the confidence that comes with experience.
A dynamic that this film embraces that is often shied away from in films that deal with romance between older characters is the role of sexual attraction. There are several erotic sequences with Gloria and Rodolfo, intended to show both the attraction between the characters and the fact that they are still interested in a vibrant sex life. This is another place where Garcia's performance is excellent, as her confidence in her body practically leaps off of the screen and is a real rarity. There's nothing sad or pitiable about these characters when it comes to the bedroom.
But a nice flipside to this is the desperation that Gloria feels. She is aware that she is aging, and she doesn't have time to mess around. In joyful moments she clearly feels carefree. But when things start to go wrong, it seems as if reminders of her own mortality are everywhere. In a great sequence, Gloria smiles wryly as she is surprised by coming across a street performer who is puppeteering a skeleton puppet. Gloria knows in a vague sense what she wants, but it's clear that she is still trying to chart a path now that one stage of her life--wife and mother of a household--is past.
Another interesting subplot involves Gloria's neighbor in her apartment who is in the middle of some sort of addiction or mental health crisis. As she lays in bed, Gloria listens to him scream and rant--whether at himself or someone else is unclear. I loved this subplot because it really captured the way that a stressor can really push you to a frustration point in other, sometimes unrelated, areas of your life.
I had two criticisms of this one. The first is just that I don't love mouth noises and the sex scenes are kind of heavy in this department. The second is that I've never been a fan of the idea that violence against men by women is quirky and funny, something that this film tries to pull off. While the violence is not extreme, it was unprovoked and not at all as cute as the film seems to think it is.
This one was a real gem and I'd highly recommend it.
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