La puta y la ballena

If you want a lesson on how to make the most out of a co-production between 2 countries which share (more or less) the same language, this film is a primer.

Expertly baptized with a catchy title (The Whore and the Whale), the film does achieve its aim of explaining the title (perhaps an overkill in that department), and deliver some good cinema for two hours with three locales, two time frames, interesting characters, with even some tango, Spanish civil war, and breast cancer education thrown in.

The dialogs are excellent. But their greatest value will get lost in subtitles. They highlight the contrasting language, particularly slang (period vulgar expressions and brothel language) between Continental and Argentinian Spanish. The relation between the characters and the two time periods, while seeming far fetched at first, end up rather nicely. The visuals of Patagonia, and the cinematography and art direction are all top notch. Highly recommended

This was a very beautiful film by writer/director Luis Puenzo, who last blew me away with his film The Official Story.

It was two stories in one, connects by threads that ran from one to the other - the whale, a woman and a man, and chance.

The gorgeous Aitana Sánchez-Gijón (The Machinist, Mouth to Mouth) plays Vera, who is facing cancer and, having her breast removed, is feeling rather hopeless. Chance has her in a hospital be next to an old woman who is connected to events before the Spanish Civil War.

Those events, and the story of Lola (Mercè Llorens), Mathide (Belén Blanco), Suarez (Miguel Ángel Solá), and Emilio (Leonardo Sbaraglia), are told simultaneously and she is drawn into the story by a box of photos and a request to do a new book by her editor.

Her explorations of herself in the face of cancer, and the story of the showgirl turned prostitute, are connected by a whale that appears in both off the shores of Patagonia.

The art, cinematography, costumes, and music are absolutely wonderful and make this an enjoyable experience.

"Shattering" is about the only word that can do justice to this movie. A knockout performance from Aitana Sanchez-Gijon as a writer suffering from breast cancer who discovers letters from a photographer killed during the Spanish Civil War, who relates the story of his betrayal of the woman who loved him. The writer, recovering from a mastectomy, goes from Madrid to Argentina and traces the path that the two lovers took in 1934, when the photographer sold his lover into a brothel and subsequently tried to buy her back. The two stories - the writer trying to come to terms with her cancer, and the young woman unaware of the fate that awaits her, keep you on the edge of your seat as the dual stories unfold. The anger and bitterness of the writer at her own fate recedes as she becomes totally immersed in the fate of the other woman. A great deal of the action takes place on the Patagonian coast, where the whales come from nowhere and vanish back into the far beyond. As an expression of the mystery of existence this movie is absolutely shattering. Time and place cross so that you find the two stories converging in a way that is mesmerizing. A heart-stopping ending that will etch itself on your memory. This is movie-making of a first class order. Kudos to everyone, actors, director and writer for a wholly original experience. Do anything you can to get your hands on this movie.

I never knew Patagonia was that beautiful. What a coast. I think I should include Punta Panorama on my priority list of must-visit places. This being said, I was rather disappointed by the lack of originality of the story. Intercutting a present day writer researching a novel playing in the past with the story of the novel is hardly an innovating idea. And the way the characters are slightly off and also their tangled relationships made me think of John Irving "light", with tango dancing instead of wrestling and a whale instead of a bear. The breast cancer story added an unnecessary additional plot line, probably to create a (false) impression of seriousness and depth. I wonder what Almodovar might have done with this, though. In spite of all the criticisms, the movie was entertaining and I considered my time in the theatre and my money for the ticket well spent.

One of the beauties of this film is that it is shot in a location completely different to North America. The colours and contours of South America are an extraordinary backdrop to this meditative film on what it means to be a truly free spirit. What happens to such a person if they are betrayed, in the one case by a lover and in the other case, by an illness.

A novelist, goes on an assignment to write about certain photographs from the 1930's and through a mixture of fortune and persistence comes across a tangled tale of love and betrayal from that turbulent era. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón very convincingly plays the novelist who discovers she has cancer whilst on her assignment. Gradually, through her own pain and despair, she learns the truth about La Puta, the Whore, ably depicted by Mercè Llorens. The 1930's in a remote part of Patagonia, is recreated in a way that gradually illustrates the danger that lurks in the extraordinary dance, the Argentine Tango.

This is not a perfect film but it is powerful and well worth watching. The themes of being stranded, the nature of freedom and love, weave throughout this nicely nuanced drama. "I'm not free because they let me go; I'm free because I was born that way" is one of the more powerful quotes in the film.