El lado oscuro del corazón

Eliseo Subiela's 1992 film The Dark Side of the Heart is an intoxicating mix of poetry, eroticism, and comic absurdity. The Argentine director, well known for such surrealistic films as Man Facing Southeast and The Last Images of the Shipwreck, outdoes expectations in Dark Side with more and better Latin-American style magic realism. The film has everything: lovers that levitate, a character having a conversation with a cow that represents his mother, talking to his other self that he keeps locked in a closet, having a heart-to-heart chat with the personification of Death (Nacha Guevara), and a love scene depicted as a roller coaster ride.

Oliverio (Dario GrandinettI), a handsome poet seeks out the perfect woman, the girl that can fly. "I don't give a damn if a woman's breasts are like magnolias or figs," he says, "if her skin feels like peach or sandpaper ... {but} on no account whatsoever will I forgive a woman who cannot fly." Those that do not fulfill his standards are summarily dismissed. With the push of a button, a trap door opens on their side of the bed, sending them falling into the abyss. Living the life of an artist in Buenos Aires, Oliverio is self-absorbed to the point of narcissism and the film looks at the world mostly from his (the male) point of view. He spends his days looking for a handout by reciting lines of his poetry to motorists and to restaurant owners in search of a free meal.

Oliverio has a friend Gustavo (André Mélancon) who insists on displaying his erotic sculptures in public but has to repeatedly bail him out of jail. The would-be poet travels to Montevideo in Uruguay where he finds Ana (Sandra Ballestros), a prostitute he tries to seduce by reciting the poetry of Mario Benedetti, only to find that she knows the poems as well as he. Refusing to fall for his too obvious come-ons, Ana is all business and rejects his obsessive pleas for romance. There's a little bit of politics as well, as Ana tells him that her husband was arrested and "disappeared" by Argentina's former dictatorship. Much to his surprise, he finds himself falling in love with Ana and pursues her until they can levitate together, soaring over tall buildings into the night sky. What better way is there to express love?

I believe there are few films that can actually touch the core of someone's soul the way Eliseo Subiela does it in this film.

Subiela´s view of life through poetry is outstanding and the magical reality that surrounds the characters transport you to a dimension only felt in the enchanting coasts of Argentina

It has it all: it has poetry, comedy, music, a moving plot, surrealism, some magic, a moral and more.

It is one of those movies you'll be talking about for a long time.

A film about a poet and his love for a hooker; the poet and his friendship with his artistic friends; the poet and his run-ins with the beautiful Death; the poet and his poems. A poetic film.

"El lado oscuro del corazón", is one of the best movies I´ve ever seen. Inspired in the life of Oliverio Girondo, (a great argentinian writer, intelectual father of Jorge Luis Borges, transgressor in the 30´s) it talks about life and love. The desperate search of Oliverio for a woman who could levitate after making love. Oliverio travels alternatively from Buenos Aires to Montevideo and each travel is a fantastic portrait of both cities, meanwhile the fears of Oliverio arise to a climax Don´t miss it, if you like poetry