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Magical Girl, 2014
Luis (Luis Bermejo) goes into something of a downward spiral when he learns that his daughter Alicia's (Lucia Pollan) cancer has returned. Luis becomes fixated on procuring a rare costume dress of an anime that Alicia loves. The problem? Luis is unemployed and the dress is prohibitively expensive. But when Luis has a chance encounter with Barbara (Barbara Lennie), her nice home gives him hope that he has found a way to leverage the money he needs. But Luis does not fully grasp Barbara's situation, nor the way that his attempts to get the money will put him on a collision course with a man from Barbara's past (Jose Sacristan).
I have had this film on my watchlist for ages, suspecting that I would love it and that it would really wreck me emotionally. Well, I was right on both counts, LOL!
I had thought, based on the little I'd read of the film, that this would mostly be a drama. Instead it's more of a drama-thriller, at times bordering on something like horror.
The film, to me, is an exploration of all the ways that we can do damage to each other without even knowing it. Around the middle of the film there is an image of a jigsaw puzzle complete but for a single piece. I think that this image really sums up the emotional heft of the film. All of the characters are SO CLOSE to something that would make them complete---forgiveness, closeness, honesty, intimacy, gratitude---and yet they just miss out on it by a hair. Luis walks out of the house just a moment before hearing a message from his daughter on the radio. Barbara's husband sets an ultimatum about her behavior just at the time she would most need to confide something serious to him.
From a plot point of view, Barbara becomes the central figure and the source of what most feels like horror. Barbara is controlled or the victim of attempted control by literally every man in her life, no exceptions. Her husband monitors whether or not she's taking her medication, something that might seem like caretaking but feels more like he's the warden. A scene where he puts his fingers in her mouth to make sure she swallowed her pill is chilling. Luis, of course, uses Barbara for her money, not knowing or caring what she will have to do to get it. Damien, the man from Barbara's past, uses Barbara's dependency on him against her. And, finally, Barbara must turn to high-class sex work, where she ends up at the mercy of a wealthy sadist.
A lesser film wouldn't have been able to resist putting Barbara's suffering on display. The restraint in leaving all of her "sessions" off-screen but allowing us to see the aftermath is much more powerful and upsetting. The moment when
. Luis begins the film in desperation, but we watch as the pressure on Barbara builds, until her own desperation begins to rival his.
The direction here is also really wonderful, letting the unspeakable and the mundane sit side by side. It is bleak and depressing, but in a way that feels earned and true to its characters and their motivations.
Magical Girl, 2014
Luis (Luis Bermejo) goes into something of a downward spiral when he learns that his daughter Alicia's (Lucia Pollan) cancer has returned. Luis becomes fixated on procuring a rare costume dress of an anime that Alicia loves. The problem? Luis is unemployed and the dress is prohibitively expensive. But when Luis has a chance encounter with Barbara (Barbara Lennie), her nice home gives him hope that he has found a way to leverage the money he needs. But Luis does not fully grasp Barbara's situation, nor the way that his attempts to get the money will put him on a collision course with a man from Barbara's past (Jose Sacristan).
I have had this film on my watchlist for ages, suspecting that I would love it and that it would really wreck me emotionally. Well, I was right on both counts, LOL!
I had thought, based on the little I'd read of the film, that this would mostly be a drama. Instead it's more of a drama-thriller, at times bordering on something like horror.
The film, to me, is an exploration of all the ways that we can do damage to each other without even knowing it. Around the middle of the film there is an image of a jigsaw puzzle complete but for a single piece. I think that this image really sums up the emotional heft of the film. All of the characters are SO CLOSE to something that would make them complete---forgiveness, closeness, honesty, intimacy, gratitude---and yet they just miss out on it by a hair. Luis walks out of the house just a moment before hearing a message from his daughter on the radio. Barbara's husband sets an ultimatum about her behavior just at the time she would most need to confide something serious to him.
From a plot point of view, Barbara becomes the central figure and the source of what most feels like horror. Barbara is controlled or the victim of attempted control by literally every man in her life, no exceptions. Her husband monitors whether or not she's taking her medication, something that might seem like caretaking but feels more like he's the warden. A scene where he puts his fingers in her mouth to make sure she swallowed her pill is chilling. Luis, of course, uses Barbara for her money, not knowing or caring what she will have to do to get it. Damien, the man from Barbara's past, uses Barbara's dependency on him against her. And, finally, Barbara must turn to high-class sex work, where she ends up at the mercy of a wealthy sadist.
A lesser film wouldn't have been able to resist putting Barbara's suffering on display. The restraint in leaving all of her "sessions" off-screen but allowing us to see the aftermath is much more powerful and upsetting. The moment when
WARNING: spoilers below
Barbara goes back for the second session and learns that there will be no safe word is horrifying. Even more so when we see the extreme results of what was done to her
The direction here is also really wonderful, letting the unspeakable and the mundane sit side by side. It is bleak and depressing, but in a way that feels earned and true to its characters and their motivations.