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MÁLAGA 2014

Todos están muertos: the open wounds of the past

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- Beatriz Sanchís is competing in the Málaga-based competition with a tale of death, motherhood and past traumas that stars Elena Anaya

Todos están muertos: the open wounds of the past

The filmmaker and advertising executive Beatriz Sanchís is making her debut at the Málaga Film Festival with this title (backed by MEDIA, Ibermedia and Eurimages, among others) following the warm welcome received by her previous short films, including La clase (nominated for a Goya in 2008) and Mi otra mitad (selected for the Berlinale in 2010). In those productions, she demonstrated a particular awareness of the world of children and teenagers, which she portrays once again in Todos están muertos [+see also:
trailer
interview: Beatriz Sanchís
film profile
]
, a tale that incorporates supernatural elements. At first glance, the film seems sweet, but it is actually complex and profound, and discusses fear, self-acceptance and the need to continue closing fundamental chapters in one’s life in order to be able to move on.

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The action unfolds in Madrid in 1996. A voice-over by Pancho (newcomer Christian Bernal), a 14-year-old boy, introduces us to the two women who make up his family: his grandmother, Paquita (Angélica Aragón), a resolute and superstitious Mexican lady; and his mother, Lupe (Elena Anaya), a former pop star who suffers from agoraphobia and kills time by making apple pies. Owing to the shy and antisocial nature of the latter, it ends up being the former who acts as the confused teenager’s mother. Then, one Day of the Dead, a ghost knocks on the door of the characters’ house... and they are forced to face up to what it has brought with it.

So, fantasy elements are certainly present in this co-production between Spain, Germany and Mexico. Little wonder, then, that Sanchís has not only filled her script with characters that have highly recognisable names from Mexico itself (the ghost is called Diego, as it happens), but she also makes the most out of the whole rich, death-related imaginary world of this Central American country in order to try to lend credibility to the presence of spirits in a film that uses no special effects, but rather opts for naturalism and subtle symbolism. This decision, which in the end gives a coherent result, takes away some of the credibility of the first part of the movie; but once this eerie presence has been accepted, the rest of the storyline manages to thrill the viewer, above all thanks to the work of Elena Anaya, an actress who effortlessly makes us shudder in her role as a woman who was once a legend and is now just a shadow of her former, magnificent self.

Also brimming with elements of 1980s Spanish culture, Todos están muertos pays tribute to the musician Bernardo Bonezzi (the group in which Lupe used to play keyboard was called Groenlandia, sharing its name with the greatest hit by the Zombies, the band that the late composer was in), Ana Curra (a driving force behind the Movida movement, who served as an inspiration for Anaya as she built up her character) and the singer Eduardo Benavente (who died at an early age, portrayed in this film in the spirit that pays the family a visit). In addition, the soundtrack features alternating groups from the eighties, such as Australian band The Church, and the nineties, such as the Granada-based group Los Planetas. This clash of decades (a supporting character mimics his idol, Kurt Cobain) highlights this struggle between the present and the past that torments Anaya’s character, a woman who will have to overcome her trauma in order to learn to live again.   

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(Translated from Spanish)

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