The scenario is a small town in the Sierras Chicas (Small Sierras) near the capital of Cordoba province, 700 km northwest of Buenos Aires. As the movie opens Adriana, in her forties, her husband and their teenage son and daughter arrive to the summer vacation home they just bought. The house is disordered and in need of repairs, power is not connected, cardboard boxes are stacked everywhere and some furniture must be repaired. Adriana's husband is almost immediately called for an emergency at work and must return to the city leaving Adriana in charge of everything, a situation one guesses she has faced many times before and increasingly resents.
Adriana works part time as an editor/proofreader and perhaps has unrealized ambitions as a writer (this is a movie that leaves much to the viewer to imagine or guess). The house is isolated but within walking distance of a river and a small town, where the available amenities are outdoor movies, dances for the young and folklore sessions for the mature.
Midlife crisis of a married woman is a subject taken up by numerous films, but director/guionist Gabriela Trettel's approach is different, with a tinge of sadness that echoes of Renoir's Partie de Campagne. Adriana's tentative and almost unconscious search for an opening seems to lead in a certain direction (as symbolized in the scene where she, after stumbling on rocks has an unexpected, joyous swim in the river) but the window of opportunity may lead nowhere or be closed at any time.
Adriana is on screen most of time and the movie rests on the shoulders of actress Laura Ortiz, who does an excellent job. Everything she goes through on screen is transmitted to the viewer, sometimes nonverbally through subtle gestures and looks. She and the other actors have a limited movie curriculum, some none at all apart of this movie and they all do a vet good job. Trettel moves the action forward without losing the viewers' interest at any time, supported her intelligent script and excellent cinematography by Hugo Colace.
Adriana works part time as an editor/proofreader and perhaps has unrealized ambitions as a writer (this is a movie that leaves much to the viewer to imagine or guess). The house is isolated but within walking distance of a river and a small town, where the available amenities are outdoor movies, dances for the young and folklore sessions for the mature.
Midlife crisis of a married woman is a subject taken up by numerous films, but director/guionist Gabriela Trettel's approach is different, with a tinge of sadness that echoes of Renoir's Partie de Campagne. Adriana's tentative and almost unconscious search for an opening seems to lead in a certain direction (as symbolized in the scene where she, after stumbling on rocks has an unexpected, joyous swim in the river) but the window of opportunity may lead nowhere or be closed at any time.
Adriana is on screen most of time and the movie rests on the shoulders of actress Laura Ortiz, who does an excellent job. Everything she goes through on screen is transmitted to the viewer, sometimes nonverbally through subtle gestures and looks. She and the other actors have a limited movie curriculum, some none at all apart of this movie and they all do a vet good job. Trettel moves the action forward without losing the viewers' interest at any time, supported her intelligent script and excellent cinematography by Hugo Colace.
