Vidas privadas

Though the essence of this story goes all the way back to Greek plays, the theme of this radiant film has rarely seemed more cogent and contemporary. It is always refreshing to learn some occult historical information from a fictional movie and that is another reason to view this important film written by Alan Pauls and Fito Paez (an accomplished and respected musician in his directorial debut). The fact that Paez is the husband of the brilliant actress Cecilia Roth is another indicator that the collaboration of these two artists promises, and delivers, much! The cruelty of the dictatorships in Argentina during the 1970s (and into the 1980s) may not be widely known yet, so this film is revealing in its references to that period. Carmen Uranga (Cecilia Roth) has been living in Madrid for 20 years, following her 10-month imprisonment in Buenos Aires as a political undesirable. While in prison she endured rape, delivered a baby which was taken from her and put up for adoption, and became so psychically bruised that she has been unable to form close relationships in the interim years. She returns to Buenos Aires at the request of her family: her father (Hector Alterio) is dying and her younger sister Ana (Dolores Fonzi), a lawyer, is trying to put their father's estate in order, and care for their mother Sofia (Chunchuna Villafane) The physician Alejandro Rosenberg (Luis Ziembrowsky) attending their father has mysterious connections to Carmen and when she arrives in this strange household she is confronted with the nightmares of the past which she has never emotionally resolved.

One of Carmen's old friends Roxana (Carola Reyes) is grooming a young, handsome model/hustler Gustavo (Gael Garcia Bernal) and when Carmen confides to Roxana that she is in need of a sexual outlet while in Buenos Aires, Gustavo is the chosen one. At first summoned to Carmen's apartment with a female trick to perform audible sex acts for Carmen's hidden voyeuristic sexual gratification, Gustavo is gradually moved to the role of reading scintillating novels behind closed doors while Carmen pursues her self satisfaction in the adjacent darkened room. Eventually Gustavo (much younger than Carmen) becomes curious then obsessed with meeting Carmen face to face and this gradual change in their 'relationship' tips the scales of the story of the remainder of the film.

To say more would destroy the unraveling of this drama. Suffice it to say that Carmen's past while in prison surfaces in its entirety and the results alter the lives of every character in the film. The story has many more sidebars that add to the intrigue, but they are disparate and too numerous to mention.

The acting by these fine artists is consistently excellent: Cecilia Roth and Gael Garcia Bernal are extraordinary together and separately. In addition to the actors mentioned above, Lito Cruz stands out as Gustavo's 'father', opening a whole different study of father/son, genetic/adopted issues. The cinematography by Andres Mazzon finds the center of every scene and creates beautiful visual effects. The musical score by the director Fito Paez with Gerardo Gandini is stridently piercing, adding to the tension of the story.

This is not an easy film to watch, but for those who appreciated 'The Piano Teacher', 'The Mother', The Crime of Padre Amaro', 'Amores Perros' and other edgy films that dare to explore taboo subjects, this is a film that informs as well as provides a strangely fine tale. In Spanish with subtitles. Grady Harp

'Vidas privadas', by first-time director Fito Paez, is the most pretentious and boring movie I have ever seen. The movie suffers from an unconvincing plot and pseudo-intellectual banter that result in a very forced and ridiculous ending. The sex and the final revelation are only there for shock value, and nothing else.

The acting is really good, but I don't think it has anything to do with Paez's direction; he just hired some really good actors. Gael García Bernal's fake Argentinean accent is awful, but he still gives a good performance. But, why didn't they just cast an actor from Argentina for that role? Some Argentinean actors are really good. I guess Fito Paez just wanted to capitalize on the Mexican actor's increasing popularity. Cecilia Roth is always great, and the movie is not a complete fiasco only because of her performance.

Also, Fito Paez is one of Agentina's best singer/songwriters, and I was hoping that, at least, the movie score would be good. But it's not. It's awful. The movie reduces the music to lame background noise that doesn't take you anywhere. Also, (trying not to give anything away) where the hell did that gun at the end came from? Did Paez just forget to explain why would one of the characters be carrying a gun? It makes no sense. Paez should not quit his day job and stick to songwriting.

I see this film on DVD in 2005. Available in the US finally. I do not that agree with the previous reviewer. Although the film is kind of forced and unconvincing, especially towards the ending, the film is ambitious and thought-provoking. It seems to attempt to provoke sentimentalism, which I do not care for. It seems to provide some sexual sensation, which I find rather uncomfortable (maybe this uneasiness is meant) What I appreciate is that the film intricately incorporates critical and politicized views. This film reminds me of Polandsky's MAID AND DEATH, which is also situated in Latin America. Both female and male leads are great. If the plot of the film is forced, their acting is not. It the plot has to try hard to be touching, their acting can touch people more elegantly. It is a pity that their acting might be thought "funny" to some viewers though....

Okay, this might not be the best of all Latin American movies, and it certainly doesn't have the most plausible of all plots (much has been said about it already). But, let's be honest about this: I appreciate every opportunity to see the acting of Cecilia Roth and Gael Garcia Bernal, and here they are both brilliant. Gael, especially, as the boy-man who falls in love with the mysterious woman behind the wall, delivers a heartbreakingly vulnerable performance. To see him break down in the end when Carmen's secret is revealed, made me suffer with him. Cecilia, too, is pure gold, and her scenes together with Gael crackle with erotic tension. Carmen, who is unable to lead normal sexual relationships after the trauma of imprisonment and torture under the Argentinian dictatorship, needs other people to audibly perform sexual acts to get some satisfaction herself. She likes to listen to hired couples from an adjacent room but usually remains invisible herself. The first thing that strikes her about young Gustavo is his voice on an answer machine. Since the owner of said answer machine is a friend who runs a model agency and provides her with "performers", she chooses Gustavo to be her next visitor. First she listens to him having sex with a girl, then she wants him to come alone and read dirty novels to her. Their mutual interest grows and, eventually, the middleaged woman and the 22 year old man fall in love with each other. However, their happiness is doomed. Something they don't know about each other (or does Carmen know?) is bound to surface, and a tragedy of Greek dimensions unfolds when it does. I'm quite certain that, in the future, only hard core Gael and Cecilia fans will bother to check out this dimly lit curiosity. Count myself one of them. The DVD (Spanish with English subtitles) is not one to stumble across in your usual video store. All the more, I'm glad to own it now, and I'll certainly watch it again. To see (and hear!) Gael Garcia Bernal lie on a bed, reading erotic fiction to his invisible client, was worth the money alone

I watched many foreign movies , but this one has some very bad subtitles. so thats the main cause , another.. its kinda boring..

this movie is under category of "cheating wife" incest" category .. but...i understand that this happens in movie ..or not.

not worth to watch.