– Berlinale 2023: João Canijo presents a family drama that seems stifling and dark, but slowly finds its way inside you and never leaves you, for better or for worse.
Anabella Moreira and Madalena Almeida in Bad life
Leo Tolstoy once wrote that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This inversion would make the perfect subtitle for the new movie from before Joao CaneguAnd Bad life [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
interview : João Canijo
fiche film]Even if the director says it’s inspired by another great author spanning the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, August Strindberg. His film, a family drama, was screened in competition at Berlin, at times stifling and difficult to follow, as the five women around whom the story revolves discuss a lot of personal issues and events from the past. Some of these conversations are only heard from behind the door or from the hallway by Pedadi (Annabella Moreira), who is the main character in this sentimental mystery. Sometimes the audience is put in a similar situation, because the director chose a still camera, and some of the discussions take place outside the frame or at its extreme. This device is a little confusing at first, but it’s an effective strategy for forming a bond with Piedade and the rest of his toxic family. It’s also a good way to report on one of the core topics of Bad life Inability to have a direct, open, and impartial conversation.
Biedadi and his family run a hotel somewhere in Portugal, and this is the only thing that interests him in life, other than his little dog, whom he calls Alma (“soul” in Portuguese).). She hasn’t seen her mother, Sarah, for a long time (Rita Blancoand her teenage daughter, Salome.Madalena Almeida) who arrived at the hotel after the death of his father. Piedad’s sister, Raquel (Almeida entirely) and his cousin Angela (Vera Pareto) Complete this female quintet. We soon learn that Piedad is the black sheep of the family, in a sense, and that she is just as incapable of having a relationship with her mother as she is with her daughter. Sarah also accuses him of being narcissistic and neurotic, but she herself is more personal Dear mom From “Dear Mother”. The beautiful but unprofitable hotel serves as a metaphor for their emotional state.
As the story unfolds, more and more painful truths and raw emotions emerge. It seems that these women just can’t manage the ambivalence of their conflicting feelings and the feelings they have for each other. Stuck, each in their own viewpoint, and licking their old wounds in a kind of frenzy, they are unable to connect with each other or move on. The five actresses do a great job and hit all the right notes for the audience to understand each of their characters, even if they don’t necessarily agree.
Watching this mature and emotionally charged film from Canijo becomes an emotional journey, as our heroines clash with each other and the nature of their unhappiness is revealed. Or maybe just a copy of it. The film is an experiment in a way since its “reverse” version, Bad living [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : João Canijo
fiche film] For the same director, in the Encounters section of the same festival. Bad life It talks about the family from the inside, while the other movie takes an outside view of the same situation. After all, circumstances can make a huge difference.
Bad life It is a co-production between Portugal and France led by Midas Filmes in Lisbon, in co-production with the Parisian Les Films de l’Après-Midi.. Portugal Film – Portugal Film Agency handles international sales of the film.
(translated from English)
Photo Gallery 02/20/2023: Berlinale 2023 – I will live
33 images are available here. Swipe left or right to see them all.
© 2023 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa – fadege. itAnd @fadege.it
