THE EMPTY NEST

(Argentina, 2008, d. Daniel Burman)

The best advice a reviewer can offer about this film is to urge those going to see it to pay careful attention to what is happening. Even then, there is every possibility that the ending will come as quite a surprise and the audience will appreciate the clues as they mull over what they have seen and realise that the questions that may have come to mind have indicated what is really happening.

The screenplay is ingenious as well as witty and often humorous.

Daniel Burman has made a number of entertaining Argentinian films with a Jewish background. It is the same here. However, he has had young protagonists up till now. This time he has an older famous writer. We are introduced to him during a meal at a restaurant, the camera moving fluidly from one dinner guest to another as they chat and gossip. He lives in Buenos Aires with his wife and two children.

What follows is what happens to him and his family over the years: his career, difficulties in relationship with his wife, his daughter's marriage to a novelist and going to live in Israel, advice from a psychiatrist... All very interesting and entertaining. But, as has been said, we still need to pay attention to the development of the plot and its details.