Princesas

When I saw Los Lunes al Sol, another Spanish film from the same Director, I could almost feel what it was like to be an unemployed man in our society. I thought Princesas would be at least a bit realistic regarding the life of a prostitute. I was wrong. The film is cute, has some rhythmic music, the two main characters are likable, etc. but the story is way too light. The film touches from far away certain issues like exploitation, venereal diseases, racism, etc. but it NEVER gets into reality. The general feeling is like being a prostitute is more fun that any other thing... just a step below "Pretty Woman". Princesas is definitely just a commercial film and (besides some acting)has nothing to be considered high quality.

Caye is saving up for a boob job. She gets her money as Lima, whoring in the streets of Madrid. Every week she eats dinner with her family and worries abut her mother's increasingly slippery grip on reality. And she has theories on Princesses and their attachment to nostalgia. Caye has no past to be nostalgic for, so she is sad for her lost future. She meets illegal immigrant and fellow prostitute Zulema, and the friendship brings her some respite. But nothing good lasts forever...

Princesas is a poetic work, shot cinema verite style showing in uncompromising detail the degradation and danger that accompanies these women's lives. Candela Peña is engrossing as Caye, with no past to comfort her, and unable to see a better future, stuck in an eternal present. Her only hope is that there is not another life like this one. Zulema, the stunningly beautiful Micaela Nevárez, is compromised by a government bureaucrat lowlife who dangles just enough hope in front of her to facilitate his need to abuse. This relationship must be the only time in cinema history where a character looking for revenge packs a knife in her bag, and the audience never sees it again. Zulema, however, at least has a Pyrrhic victory of sorts (though the film falters slightly here, as it is unclear exactly who is infecting whom...)

A snapshot of lives lived in shadows and on the edges of our civilization, this is lyrically written, and shot in an unobtrusive, straightforward manner. Touching, truthful and ample food for thought.

To my recollection, I have only seen one other movie about the lives of prostitutes. Sure there was Pretty Woman, but that really didn't get into the actual work. This film is different and really does a great job showing the less glamorous side.

Fernando León de Aranoa wrote and directed the film and it moves along well. It certainly keeps your interest. The soundtrack is also a big plus.

Candela Peña (All About My Mother) is Caye, who rarely smiles as she deals with her mother, who seems to be losing it, and tries to establish a real relationship that keeps bumping up against her occupation.

A new actress, Micaela Nevárez is Zulema, who is consumed with the child she left in the Dominican Republic. She is trying to get papers to get out of Spain, and is taken advantage of by a sleazy public official. She gets revenge in an unusual way.

Together Caye and Zulema are friends and they try to survive in spite of their occupation. It is a times funny, and certainly sad as they try to find that opening to a better life.

We can say that Fernando León De Aranoa is a demagogue because he tells the truth and denounces the injustices of our society. We can say that he usually makes up such forced situations, but fiction will never be as rude and hard as reality. You may hate all that "social realism" stuff, the "Costumbrism" and so.. but still they are the base of many of the masterpieces in the history of European cinema.

After the kids of "Barrio", after the unemployed of "Los Lunes Al Sol", now it's the prostitutes' turn: their "day by day", their dreams and their hopes, the racism some of them have to suffer, and lots of urban philosophy (at the end of the day that's the most valuable philosophy, 'cause it comes right from people's guts). Is it too obvious to say that Fernando León is one of the best Ken Loach's pupils? Well, if it's obvious then it's true too...

Candela Peña said he was looking forward to work with F. León, that it was her dream, and I'm sure that Fernando have always dreamed of finding an actress like Candella: she's so real.

I don't know if this is the end of a "social trilogy", and maybe FLA will go back to comedy (as in "Familia") for his next movie... Whatever, I'm sure it will be such a great work.

PS: "Si La Vida Te Da" ("If life gives you..."), what a beautiful song. I don't like Manu Chao that much, but I love that tune...

*My rate: 8/10

Fernando León De Aranoa's film Princesas, is a touching and emotional journey about two young women who work the streets of Madrid, out of pure desperation. They are in hopes of starting a new life. It isn't the typical Hollywood prostitute movie; it is much more than that. It is a very agonizing movie that puts you in these intense characters shoes, and you try to understand how they deal with their day to day struggles. Aranoa gives perspective and creates this underlying sympathy that continuously tugs at your heart strings.

I felt for Caye the minute the movie started and she was walking into that hospital room to show the young boy a good time. How humiliating I thought to myself, but she had no choice. Again you feel for her when you realize that she is living a double life. She tries to enjoy a quite lunch with her family but her phone is constantly antagonizing and bringing her back to her reality, which for me seems like a living hell. I have seen movies before about prostitutes like "Pretty Woman," a typical American Hollywood film. It is sad and then it has a typical happy ending. Princesas is raw and real, it doesn't turn Caye and Zulema's lives into a fairy tale. It is refreshing to see an original and genuine film about an issue that is prevalent in the world today. There are women all over the world that have no other choice. I feel like Aranoa's film is giving these women a voice. Prostitutes are people, and they do what they can to survive.