LA SOLEDAD (SOLITUDE)
Spain, 2007, 130 minutes, Colour.
Sonia Almarcha, Petra Martinez, Miriam Correa, Nuria Mencia, Maria Bazan, Jesus Cracio, Luis Villanueva, Luis Bermejo.
Directed by Jaime Rosales.
Jaime Rosales directed a powerfully grim film about a killer, The Hours of the Day. This time his subject does include death but, in its almost three hours length, it looks at the intertwined stories of two women.
The film is long. Rosales uses a static camera, making us gaze at length on the characters (and compounded by a great number of the sequences having a split screen technique).
The plot is straightforward but the important factor is the characterisation. One story concerns a young woman who has left her husband, gone to Madrid with her child, moved in with a couple and then suffers a tragedy. The other story concerns the mother of three daughters who tries to cope with their moods and their trying to control her life. (One of the daughters is the owner of the apartment in Madrid.) The daughters squabble amongst themselves with sibling rivalry, one being bossy concerning her mother selling her apartment, another resentful and the third a woman who undergoes surgery for cancer.
The film is not always gripping and requires a willing concentration.
1.The work of the director? His visual style? The fixed camera, the focus on characters, long takes? The visual style of the split screen? Audiences watching two aspects of a sequence, people moving from one part of the screen to the other? The dramatic effect? For the plot, for the characters?
2.The Spanish settings, the town, offices, homes? The contrast with Madrid, the city, the apartments and homes? The musical score?
3.The title, the visual style highlighting solitude? The length of the film? The audience having time to watch the characters, reflect on them?
4.The structure of the film with chapters, the focus on Adela, on Antonia, on going to the city, the apartments and the crises?
5.The portrait of Adela, at work, deciding for a change, at home with her son, her ex-husband and his coming to the house? The decision, in Madrid, boarding with Ines, friendship with Carlos? In the bus, the bomb blast and the death of the child? The audience not knowing immediately what had happened? Her going to her father, her dilemmas, her injuries? Her being taken in by Antonia and the family, not wanting to be part of their squabbles? Her husband on her return, wanting to be with her? Her final decisions?
6.Antonia, at home, her daughters, her relationship with Manolo? Her wanting to get married? The issue of selling the house or not? The reaction of the daughters? Her daughter with the cancer and talking to the doctor? Her birthday party, her being upset, the different reactions of her daughters? Her being exasperated? Her love for Manolo? Her death?
7.The daughters, Helena and her husband, bossy, wanting the house to be rented, wanting a loan from her mother? Nieves and her cancer, in hospital, recovery? Ines as younger, cantankerous, taking Adela in, relationship with Carlos? Wanting the house to be sold? The clashes with Helena? Not coming to the birthday party?
8.The portrait of the daughters, credible, insightful? The clashes between themselves? The contrast with the men, the devoted men, the men who had broken with their wives? Adela’s father?
9.A portrait of contemporary Spain? Slow-moving, reflective, how insightful?
