[wpdevart_youtube]E7zELAeLObc[/wpdevart_youtube]
The Heiresses
***
Dir: Marcelo Martinessi
Starring: Ana Brun, Margarita Irun
(Paraguay, 12A, 1hr 38mins)
This small, carefully-constructed Paraguayan drama is worth seeking out, particularly for those interested in LBGT dramas from further afield. The Heiresses tells the story of Chela (Ana Brun) and Chiquita (Margarita Irun), two aging women of the upper classes in the capital of Asunción, who appear to have been together almost all of their adult lives. Their inherited wealth has dwindled, and as debts run up Chiquita is sent to prison for fraud – one can read her imprisonment as a moment of anti-LBGT discrimination, as the court case against her was initially simply one of debt, which was then upped to fraud.
With Chiquita, the louder and more forthright of the two, in prison, Chela is left to find a new source of money herself, which she does by starting an informal taxi service driving a group of old ladies around, despite having no driving licence.
As a character study based around class, race, sexuality and gender, {The Heiresses} touches on a lot of ground. It’s hard not to miss that the new maid hired by Chela and Chiquita, Pati (Nilda Gonzalez), is black and is treated with a mixture of disdainful annoyance and bland benevolence by her two employers – the very fact that they keep a maid on hand despite their needing to sell off the family silver is evidence of how unwilling they are to change their lifestyle, though Chiquita’s adaptation to prison life at least suggests she is more willing to change than the introverted and shy Chela.
There’s also the suggestion that their social status at least protects them from the worst excesses of anti-LBGT discrimination, as Chela never brings up her sexuality to the gaggle of elder ladies she forms a small friendship with, and The Heiresses full of smart character moments.
Stylistically, director Marcelo Martinessi loves the dark, dilapidated shadows of the aging house in which his two protagonists live – the opening scene is shot as if spying into the place, and the house’s nooks and crannies bring to mind many an aging cinematic aristocrat – dating right back to Miss Havisham’s cobweb-infested cove in David Lean’s 1946 version of Great Expectations, and more recently Argentinian auteur Lucrecia Martel’s Zama. The performances too, are solidly pitched.
There aren’t many problems with The Heiresses, and that, perversely, may be its biggest flaw. The film is so determined to be subtle in its studiousness, that it sometimes forgets to make a point at all, expect for all the numerous elements we can half pick up and debate thereafter. Nevertheless, this will certainly fly under the radar and will no doubt be worth tracking down.
words Fedor Tot