Tú no eres yo

Fantastic Fest 2023 Greetings again from the darkness. Every year, Christmas is voted both the happiest AND most stressful time of the year. The reason why seems pretty obvious and is encapsulated in one word: family. Co-writers and co-directors Marisa Crespo and Moises Romera seize on this phenomenon by having Aitana and her wife Gabi, along with their recently adopted baby boy, make a surprise visit to Aitana's parents' home on Christmas Eve ... or if you prefer the word used by the parents, it's an 'unannounced' visit.

From the moment the front door is answered, Aitana (and us) notices the cold and strange reception. After being away for three years, she expected long hugs and oohs and ahhs. Instead, her wheelchair bound brother, Saul, is the only one happy to see her, and the curious vibe includes meeting Nadia. The layers take a while to peel back, but what's apparent is that Nadia has replaced Aitana as the daughter, and this includes sleeping in her bed, wearing her clothes, and being doted on by the parents.

The atmosphere shifts from odd to downright bizarre in the evening as a formal dinner party confuses Aitana. Is she in danger? Is her baby in danger? Is Nadia a threat? What is up with her parents' odd behavior? There are teases of the supernatural, demon worship, and a culinary cult. Does any of this play out? Does Aitana's nightmare come true? The filmmakers expertly toss out many questions, while we as viewers are reminded of ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) and THE WICKER MAN (1973) as the set-up progresses. No one would describe this as a typical Christmas flick (although there is an Old Nick); however, it's an impressive production that keeps us guessing.

Meet-the-parents horror films have created their own sub-genre. Since recent favourites like Get Out and Ready or Not, many films have filtered the real anxiety of meeting a couple's family through genre violence. But the Spanish thriller YOU ARE NOT ME takes a twist on this classic and shows us that the greatest terror is not meeting your partner's parents, but that you've stopped knowing yours and it's your partner who seems to know them best.

Aitana returns home for Christmas with her partner and the baby they have adopted and discovers that her parents have replaced her with a stranger... It's hard to go on without revealing more details but, as it moves towards an (unsurprisingly for genre fans) inevitable ending, the thematic play becomes richer, capturing the pain of familial rejection. The journey is very worthy and the epilogue is memorable.

This was a film that I got the chance to see via screener thanks to Lisa from Bright Iris Film Co. She reached out to see if I'd be interested in watching for a review. This is a film that I saw showing at the Gateway Film Center, but I couldn't make the times work. When I realized that this was horror and a wide release 2024, I confirmed that I was interested in watching. I did come into this one as blind as I could aside from that.

Synopsis: Aitana (Rosser Tapias) returns home for Christmas, the first time after three years, to find that her parents have replaced her with an unknown woman who is being treated like their daughter.

We will start this at the airport. Aitana and her wife, Gabi (Yapoena Silva) don't see their luggage and find out it didn't make the plane. They're here to surprise Aitana's parents since they've not met Gabi. They also adopted a baby, João, so they want to introduce him as well. This doesn't have much bearing on the story, but the baby is black where they're both parents are of Hispanic descent.

Now this trip creates issues. Aitana's parents are Dori (Pilar Almería) and Justo (Alfred Picó) They're not expecting the couple until the following week, but Aitana decided to surprise them and show up on Christmas Eve. This makes things awkward when they arrive to find her parents have guests over. Oriol (Álvaro Báguena) and Pepita (Pilar Martínez) are a married couple who are there. Aitana also didn't realize that her brother's medical condition had gotten worse. His name is Saùl (Jorge Motos). There's another character here, Nadia (Anna Kurikka), that is helping with his medications and care.

Something that should be included here is that Aitana fled from this family without letting them know why, like the synopsis said. She was supposed to be married and just left. It sounds like she had a crisis and then moved to the United States. It was there that she started a new life. She has spoken with her parents and kept in touch with her brother. They were hurt by what happened though. This causes Aitana to feel guilty now that she's home. She isn't coping well because her parents are treating Nadia like their daughter.

Aitana doesn't trust this outsider and will do whatever she can to prove she's up to no good. It does seem like she is selling Saùl's medications to people. She might also be stealing money. Her parents won't hear of it and it is amplified when they don't have her normal family over to celebrate Christmas. Instead, a bunch of new people arrive and Aitana debates leaving again. Gabi starts to think that her spouse is the problem. There could be something more sinister here at play as well.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is with this being a movie you need to stick with. I questioned from early on if this was horror. For most of this movie it isn't. This is one though that you need to pay attention to because there are things that get introduced that come back into play later. I enjoy movies like this where we are following a character who is unreliable and we can't fully trust, only to see in the end that everything makes sense.

Now that I've set that up, let me delve deeper into what I mean. I'll avoid spoilers as well. Aitana is our lead and I'd say that this film is from her perspective. She is happy now that she fled to America. I can see her parents being hurt by what happened. They even say at one point that they would have preferred her to tell them how she was feeling instead of just leaving like she did. That makes sense. It would be on them if she said that she didn't want to get married and they still pushed it. She even came out of the closet in her time away, which makes sense. There's this added element of how homosexuality isn't as accepted in countries that are predominantly Christian or Catholic. That adds an element. What makes things weird, Aitana's parents are accepting of Gabi. They make her feel welcome from what we see. I also like this angle that Aitana expects to just come back home and be treated like nothing happened. It hurts that her parents have 'replaced' her with Nadia. There's more to this for sure. I'll credit here to Tapias for her performance.

Something that works in this film is the atmosphere. There are things that Aitana is used to when it comes to this holiday. Having her be gone for three years makes her question how much has changed in that time. Saùl is excited to see her, but his condition is deteriorating. Aitana wanted to see her favorite aunt and uncle, but they weren't invited over. They even tell her later in this film that her parents have grown distant from them in that time. Then there are all these strangers over for this party. Things even get weird when Aitana, Saùl, Gabi and Nadia all pass out, making me know that their drinks were drugged. There is this baby that is here as well, so I start to get anxious. Credit to this film for getting that reaction out of me.

Since I'm not going to spoil the reveal of what is happening, let's go over to discuss acting performances. I've already said that Tapias is good as this lead who might be overreacting, but there are odd things happening around her. I liked Silva as her partner, who is the grounded one. The family and guests are nice to her and she isn't seeing the things that Aitana is due to never having been here. That was a good touch. I like Motos as Aitana's brother. Almería and Picó are good as these parents. They seem nice, but they're also on edge. That fits the more we learn. I'd also say that Kurikka is good as this 'replacement' to Aitana. I guessed where that was going, but it still worked for me. Other than that, Báguena, Martínez and the rest of our guests worked for what was needed to round out the cast.

All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that this was well-made. It is a good thing that our couple lost their luggage to start. That is setting up that they're having bad luck. Then showing how far out of the way Aitana's parents' house was a good touch. That creates isolation and helps with the atmosphere. I also like that it is an uncomfortable situation where Aitana feels slighted, but this is also her doing. We don't know if she is just reading into things or if there is something more to it. That is well done. The cinematography and framing were good. There was a solid touch when Aitana gets drugged and sees things distorted. There are limited effects here, but we also don't need them. What we got looked good there. The soundtrack also fit what was needed, as did the sound design.

In conclusion, this was one that I'm glad I didn't miss. There are good elements here with setting up an unreliable lead character who is trying to convince her partner that something is wrong. She can't prove it easily though. Tapias is good as our lead and the rest of the cast around her helps push her to where it ends up. This was well-made with the atmosphere being the best part. The cinematography and framing help capture the isolated feel that is needed. I'll warn you that this is from Spain, so it is subtitled. I would recommend giving this a watch if you like these types of stories.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

For me, the biggest problem with the movie is that it's way too predictable. The final twist/explanation is set up throughout the movie in a way that makes it glaringly obvious what's going on. You see it coming from the moment the rich guy talks about raising pigs, so you spend the next hour waiting for the main character to catch up with the audience.

The cabal of old satanists is also kinda cliched and ridiculous and some of the dialogue and performances are pretty weak.

It's a small, low-budget movie and it shows, not so much in the production values (which are fine) but in the caliber of the actors involved.

Saw this at the Imagine film festival 2023 in Amsterdam. Very tense and very surprising due to many unexpected turns of events it offers. From the start, the story could go in many directions, none of which seem actually pursued while the story develops, so surprise after surprise can be expected.

Ample plot elements are available. Take the lesbian couple bringing a "surprise" visit to the family of one of them, after losing contact three years ago. They carry an adopted black baby with them. The former room of the daughter proves occupied by a woman who is treated as a replacement, who also wears her clothes. Many things happen before and during the Christmas meal. Remarkably, an aunt and uncle who attended each and every foregoing year, were not invited. Instead, non-family members are welcomed as VIP guests.

Feeling alienated and unwelcome is the main observation. Near the finale I had reminiscences (incorrect, in hindsight) of Get Out (Jordan Peele 2017), possible misled by the black boy they brought along (casted a black baby here on purpose?). I was wrong, as developments went in a totally different direction. I cannot reveal anything further without giving away the ending.

When leaving the venue, I scored 5/5 for the audience award. All in all: tense, unexpected developments, ample ingredients to keep us guessing how the story would proceed, and finally surprising us with a totally different outcome. Sufficiently complex but not overly convoluted.