Malgré tout

Cute story with 4 great actresses. Well, 6, counting Rosy de Palma and Marisa Paredes.

"Feel Good" movies don't have to be unbelievable, predictable, and simplistic. But this one is. It's boring. I rarely say that watching even a bad movie was a waste of my time, because even bad movies often have some redeeming feature of interest. This one doesn't; watching it was a waste of time. To make it worthwhile it should have been an hour longer.

Four thirty-ish sisters return to their parents' home in Spain for their mother's funeral. They learn that "Dad" is not their biological father, and are made to jump through hoops to learn which men are, so their Mother's will can be read. Well, no: they're made to casually stroll through one very broad hoop set at ground level with a smooth transition - no trouble at all.

Netflix Media Center's plot description says "discovering more about themselves, their mother, and their lives." Very little discovery takes place. We get only trivial insight into the four sisters' characters as the story starts. We gradually learn only token tidbits about each woman's relationship with Mom. And we learn absolutely nothing about the role played in their lives by the man they had been calling Dad, nor of his relationship with Mom. Who the biological fathers are is telegraphed early and loudly, as are the "insights" the daughters learn about themselves. All that remains is to map Dad A to Daughter 3, and so on, and the film progresses to the inevitable and obvious happy ending.

The trivial plot is carried forth by one-dimensional, stereotyped characters. A couple of the actresses apparently realize they're producing junk and seem not to even try to make it real. Netflix's technical production is excellent, of course. There are a couple of heart-warming moments. But wow, this is fluff. This storyline, to be meaningful, needs more texture and density and much more complexity at both a high and a low level.

Now I would not call the movie surprising in any way or especially grand. It still is able to entertain the viewer with 4 powerful main characters in the mix who are all looking for their father. This may not be the most interesting premise for some, but it is what we are dealt with here.

And it works to a degree (foreseeable events and all), if you allow yourself to be intrigued by it all. Now I understand that for some this seems annoying and boring. That is fair, but it should never make you question the actresses involved and even more so spanish cinema overall. This tells you what it is, so you are never cheated in anything

"Despite everything"is a light comedy about 4 sisters and their search for their respective fathers.

This film is far from being memorable or original, but it does the trick. It is entertaining, so long as you don't expect anything profound. It does have a few good moments here and there, but it's overall pretty average.

The best thing in my opinion is the performance of the leading actresses, who do a nice job, except for Amaya Salamanca, who I've always found too artificial, like she's trying too hard, but it might be just me.

All in all, just watchable.

If you want to watch a good movie you could definitely find something better. I watched it merely as an exercise to "practice" Spanish. The movie is visually pleasing, has a great cast and the story is rather 'meh' but easy to follow and interesting enough to watch if you're learning Spanish. If you're looking for something else, like, to have a laugh, to be moved or to actually fell any emotion at all - give it a pass.