Gloria

Gloria Cumplido (Paulina García) is a 58-year-old divorcée. She's generally friendly but deeply lonely. She does yoga. She goes to a dance club for older folks. She meets Rodolfo Fernández (Sergio Hernández) and immediately gets into a passionate sexual relationship. He refuses to let her meet his family. At her son's birthday dinner, he sneaks out without telling her. She is devastated and breaks up with him. She's diagnosed with glaucoma. She eventually tries again with Rodolfo but this time, he walks out on her at a restaurant while on vacation.

The most compelling aspect of this movie is that old people get naked and have single people sex. I guess that's unusual in the movie world. Gloria has a compelling long road of self discovery in this movie. Paulina García plays it a little too understated for my taste. I would have liked her to be more explosive and more urgent. The movie is generally slow and quiet. There are some sly humor but nothing that is laugh worthy. Also what's the deal with Rodolfo? It's the most confounding weird idiocy that he keeps walking out on her. If I was her, I would be wondering if he's delirious or suffered a head injury. I just don't get Rodolfo.

This film portraits the daily life of Gloria, an average Chilean divorced 50-something woman. The plot as such may not seem exciting or innovative at first but the character of Gloria makes up for it all. We are invited to share the way Gloria confronts different situations in her life, and we are blown away by her passion, sense of humor and independence. It may be telling that even several days after watching the film I find myself thinking about Gloria and smiling. An honest portrait that runs smoothly thanks the superb acting of the main character and the right combination of scenery and soundtrack. Highly recommended.

It is rare to find female portraits of real women, with all their imperfections, vulnerabilities, as well as their strength and courage. I have seen many movies trying to represent the female universe, but "Gloria" is in my opinion one of the most accurate, honest, real I have ever seen. In his picture there's not a single cliché , or pathetic, or melodramatic moment and the merit is to be given to Paulina Garcià who proves superb, she does not represent , she is a real woman, as if she were not playing. She offers such a variety of expressions, gestures , evidence of a great talent, her moments of joy are as intense as her down ones, proving always so charismatic and real. In the end we stay disarmed in front of this woman, who lives her sometimes desperate search for life in front of us, and we cannot but sympathize, smile, cry and feel with her. But her merit is shared by the director, quite significantly a man, and a young man, surprisingly capable of offering a very sensitive and mature view of the female world, and an equally honest view of a rather miserable male universe.

The big revelation in Chilean director Sebastian Lelio's Gloria is that older people are still interested in sex. Who would've thunk it? We thought they had moved on to other interests. In any event, in the superb performance by Paulina Garcia for which she won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013, 58-year-old Gloria is definitely a "force of nature." Gloria (who is in every scene in the film) shows her zest for life by going to singles clubs on the weekends, dancing, drinking alcohol, smoking pot, singing along with the car radio, and having sex (not that there's anything wrong with that). You won't catch her doing old fogy things, such as body, mind, and spirit-nurturing type of stuff (except for a halfhearted stab at yoga).

She is, nonetheless, a courageous woman who fights off loneliness with tenacity remarkable at any age. Unfortunately, she also proves that she can be just as self-absorbed, unable to communicate, and inconsiderate as anyone, regardless of age or condition. Divorced for many years, Gloria lives alone in a small apartment in Santiago where, after working all day, she has to contend with the noise of a drug addict who lives upstairs. Her relationship with her adult children, Pedro (Diego Fontecilla), who has an infant and daughter Ana (Fabiola Zamora), who is pregnant with the child of her Swedish boyfriend, is good, at least on the surface.

The fact that she has to keep reminding them to call her, however, raises questions about how close their relationship is. One weekend at the dance club, Gloria connects with Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez), an ex-Navy officer who has been divorced for one year, and they begin a relationship that seems promising. Rodolfo owns a small amusement park where he and Gloria have fun together, shooting each other with paint guns and bungee jumping. His continuing close relationship with his ex-wife and two daughters whom he supports financially, however, begins to get in the way and their good times together come to a sudden halt when Rodolfo meets Gloria's children and somewhat strange ex-husband Gabriel (Alejandro Goic) at Pedro's birthday party.

Feeling ignored to the point of being invisible, Rodolfo reacts to Gloria and Gabriel's reminiscing about the past and showing each other photos from the family album by abruptly getting up and leaving. After avoiding his phone calls for what appears to be several days, they finally meet but neither takes responsibility for what happened. Although he tries to explain what prompted his action at the party, she turns a deaf ear and continues to blame him for being "rude." A similar scenario plays out when they reestablish their friendship and spend a weekend at an upscale resort where the director does not flinch from showing their naked bodies in bed.

When Rodolfo receives a phone call from one of his daughters telling him that his ex-wife just had a serious accident, he is anxious to go and be with her. Instead of letting him know that it is okay with her if he chooses to go, Gloria tells him to let go of his past and be in present time. Without regards for his being upset at the moment, she presses him to agree to go with her on a ten-day vacation to Cuba. Though it is not surprising when he again walks out and leaves her alone, it is apparent that open and honest communication would have worked better. Again, blaming him for being rude, she cuts off all communications and petulantly unleashes a paint-gun attack on his home.

Without question, accolades are warranted for Garcia's performance and she deserves all the awards and nominations she has received. Gloria can be charming and the world could certainly use more free spirits, yet, while many will cheer her actions with a "you go girl" mindset, a distinction needs to be made between an independent spirit and those who behave in a juvenile manner. Unfortunately, however, Lelio does not make any. It is left to Gloria to finally figure out the difference between pleasure and joy.

"Gloria" is one of those rare films; a female lead film that doesn't deal in hysterics or cattiness. The eponymous heroine dives into life and all its glories and miseries with such gusto that it's impossible not to be swept away with her.

After 12 years of being single and dancing in single bars with men in their 60s, Gloria meets a nervous but lovely and loving man, Rodolpho. He's recently divorced and still largely involved in the lives of his ex-wife and their two daughters. Can Gloria, who's children are fiercely independent and whose only real relationship seems to be with her maid, overlook this gentleman's problems and find happiness? Paulina Garcia is so candid in her acting that at times I was just completely shocked by her realistic approach. Gloria wasn't a parody or morality tale, she was a woman. And a woman a lot like my mum. Having been single for so long and having built a life for herself, she struggled to let this man with his weaknesses into her life. Her scenes with Rodolpho and on her own contrasted so shockingly.

At times sad and at times happy but never melodramatic or hysterical, "Gloria" took a mature and beautiful approach to life after 50. The nuances and psychological differences between Gloria and Rodolpho were prevalent but never overplayed or preached to the audience. Her scenes between her children and her highlighted her role in their lives - she was free of their dependency and, although Rodolpho seemed desperate to have that in his life, Gloria was desperate to be more a part of theirs. The one scene in which both children are together at a birthday party with Gloria and Rodolpho gives the audience so much. Needless to say, the tension and energy created when Rodolpho comes face to face with the competitors for her affection is incredible and destructive and so very, very real. The beautiful photography around the dinner table creates a visual feast of anxiety, jealousy, love and pride.

I went to watch this film with my mum. That was slightly awkward. The film contains some serious sex scenes between two middle aged people entering old age. The degree of passion present in them also took me aback. I started to look at my mum a bit differently after this film...

Finally, you probably won't see a more euphoric end to a film. When Gloria gets up to dance to the disco stormer of the 80s named after her, you'll be hard pressed not to join in.

Quite possibly the most fun I've had at the cinema in a long time.