A potentially absurd script about a sorrow-blighted young woman with a potato in an intimate spot, which mixes Peruvian folk beliefs with cod-Freudian allegory, is almost saved by the stylistic bravura of director Claudia Llosa's mise-en-scene. Arthouse audiences will find themselves dipping in and out of engagement but the story is too contrived in the long run to resonate much beyond its own four walls.
With its attention-grabbing premise, visual confidence and hummable soundtrack, this atmospheric film may attract a few niche distributors who serve sophisticated urban markets but outside Spain (where it will be released on Feb 13 the day after its Berlinale premiere) and parts of Latin America, it will probably find a safer home on the festival circuit.
The film centres obssessively on Fausta (Solier) who suffers from 'la teta asustada' – literally 'the frightened breast' – a condition popularly believed to afflict the children of those born to women who were raped or abused during Peru's years of terrorism. Fausta seems paralysed by fear, with tears continually brimming over in her eyes. After her elderly mother dies and Fausta collapses, a doctor discovers that she has inserted a potato into her vagina as a protection against rape. Returning to her village, tuber still in place, Fausta tells her taciturn uncle (Ballon) that she is trying to find a way to raise the money to take her mother's body back to her distant home province to be buried.
She finds a job as a night maid in the big house in town which belongs to neurotic pianist and composer Aida (Sanchez). Hearing Fausta sing one of the songs with which she attempts to exorcise her fears, Aida, who is making no progress on her latest sonata, offers to give Fausta a pearl from a broken necklace each time she sings to her. Meanwhile, as Fausta begins a shy friendship with middle-aged gardener Noe (Solis), her uncle is putting pressure on her to remove her mother's body before the marriage of his Maxima.
Shot with a mix of carefully framed longshots and mobile close-ups, this measured, mannered film draws strength and authenticity from its location, conveying the sweaty, hard tenor of life in the poor outskirts of Lima where Fausta's family lives; bare arid hills rise up behind jerry-built houses, brightened inside by garish paint and religious tack.
But despite a controlled performance by Soller, we are held back from committing to Fausta by the contrived allegorical arc of the script. For those who can keep a straight face a great deal of beauty remains, however, not only in the poised photography but also in the soundtrack of lilting, melancholic guitar melodies and songs.
Production companies
Wanda Vision
Oberon Cinematografica
Vela Producciones
International sales
The Match Factory
(34) 91 352 8376
Producers
Jose Maria Morales
Antonio Chavarrias
Claudia Llosa
Cinematography
Natasha Braier
Production design
Susana Torres
Patricia Bueno
Editor
Frank Gutierrez
Music
Selma Mutal
Main cast
Magaly Solier
Marino Ballon
Susi Sanchez
Efrain Solis
2 comentarios:
In Peru there is a mixture of races and cultures, but our main heritage are Native American and Afro descendant. Unfortunately, racism and class division has kept Peruvians divides and most of us are discriminated against, just because of the color of our skin.
Claudia Llosa is a filmmaker who has mastered a way to present herself as a good person, but her films are nothing but racist evil work. Her previous film Madeinusa was a racist flick that showed Indigenous peoples from Peru, as idiots and savages.
Her new film La Teta Asustada, or the Milk of Sorrow -as it has been politically correct translated- has won an award at the Berlin Film Festival, with a script that shows a fake sympathy for the Indigenous peoples of Peru, and for the violence of a civil war we faced in the last two decades. In reality, its images scream of bad intentions and racist mockery, through an exaggerated comparison of the lifestyles of both main characters.
Claudia Llosa is part of that tiny white elite of Lima, and she is related to the racist Hispanic Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, who strongly opposes the ongoing process of revalidation of indigenous rights in South America. It doesn’t come as surprise that this film has been funded by major media companies from Spain [and Germany].
Many Europeans love exotic movies about peoples and cultures from other parts of the world -that would decrease their guiltiness over past history- but, they never include our true voices.
This movie is all about money, fame and power – and not about making a difference in the lives of Peruvians. Its racist producers will make profits while spreading a wrong image and versions of our cultures and history, with a disgusting sense of superiority.
In that way, they are trying to spread racist poison among our young Native people. So our minds can be corrupted with low self esteem and a silly admiration for the Eurocentric culture of white Peruvians.
Hi Carlos:
I believe you could be right. Specially I strongly agree with you about Mario Vargas Llosa.
However, something great has come up from these movies. The wonderful and inspiring Magaly Solier, who is nothing like the characters she portrays. And if you read the news or see her interviews, she is inspiring young people to speak their mind, to be proud about their heritage. She is also supporting native's rights in Bagua. In other words, SHE IS NOT AFRAID to tell the truth.
That is more meaningful than a movie or an award. A person who can move people.
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