The life of two women and their families in a small town of Salta, Argentina.
Blaine: Lucrecia Martel grew up a Catholic in Salta. Her dream was to become a scientist when she was a kid. Then, during her teen years, Lucrecia's mother took her to see a Catholic film and it had a huge effect on her mother. Lucrecia didn’t realize a movie could have a big effect on people. Lucrecia started showing an interest in cinema after that. Lucrecia would shoot videos of her family using her dad’s camera. Lucrecia would also check out books at the library about cinema and she studied filmmaking through them. Lucrecia didn’t go to film school, but she read a lot about making short films, which helped her find her path into filmmaking. As she got older, Lucrecia started to make her own short films. Lucrecia then thought about writing the script for a full length feature based on stuff she did during her childhood in the summer. She would think about those memories a lot. The story would take place in her home of Salta, Argentina. Writing a script wasn’t hard for Lucrecia. She just had to remember things she observed from childhood. Before the film was made, Lucrecia’s screenplay was given the Sundance Institute/NHK Award in 1999, an award that recognizes new talent for their work and the work to come. The people at Sundance suggested a few changes be made to the script and Lucrecia took their advice.
Lucrecia managed to write a 200 page script, but because of the tight schedule while making the movie, only half of it was shot. However, Lucrecia was able to make “La Cienaga” feel like a fully finished film and Lucrecia says the film is what it is. What helps Lucrecia find her vision is sound. I don’t know how that works, but it just does for her. Sound always comes first with Lucrecia and it really helps Lucrecia construct a scene in her mind. The beginning of the film is just about listening to sounds like ice in a glass, or people moving chairs around and bugs in the background. The characters hardly say anything, you’re just hearing silence, except for the noise in the background. A lot of preparation went into the first scene where everyone is sitting in chairs next to the pool. There was no floor next to the pool, so they had to build one and got used chairs.
“La Cienaga” was made to look like it was this home movie, like the home videos Lucrecia used to shoot when she was fifteen. On the fourth week of shooting, the producer, who really supported the project, realized that “La Cienaga” wasn’t turning out the way she thought it was going to be. Lucrecia was thinking maybe she could be right because she hadn’t had much experience in making a full length feature before and she didn’t want to blow all the money that the producers were getting to finance “La Cienaga”. Lucrecia never had so much time or money in making a film before. She knows it takes time to make a film, so she wasn’t under pressure. Another thing I can’t explain is why Lucrecia is not in love with the stuff she has created. She said she is not in love with the things she writes or shoots. Lucrecia had never worked with big actors before and she was able to get two of Argentina’s biggest stars, Graciela Borges and Mercedes Moran, for this project. At first, Lucrecia wasn’t looking for stars, she just wanted to find the right actors to play these characters. Lucrecia wasn’t having any luck, until a friend of her’s recommended Graciela Borges and Mercedes Moran. Both Graciela and Mercedes had what Lucrecia wanted to see in the characters Mecha and Tali. Graciela Borges plays a middle aged woman who spends her time around the house just sitting on the bed, drinking, watching T.V. and taking it easy after passing out and getting cuts on her chest from broken glass. And Mercedes Moran is a responsible mother even though her kids are a hand full. She feels claustrophobic being around her own home, so she makes several visits to the estate.
Lucrecia would take the time to get to know each actor to make them feel comfortable. The kids just had to behave like they would usually do and have fun. The only thing Lucrecia wanted out of the kids was for them to say their lines perfectly. Some of them tried to memorize the script after reading it. A lot of people have said they can’t understand what is going on with these characters or what their relationship is. The characters are just doing average day stuff. The Momi character, played by Sofia Bertolotto, is shown a lot. You don’t know where she comes from, but she wears her swim suit 90% of the time and she spends a lot of time with Isabel, the house maid. Momi loves Isabel like a sister. Isabel looks like she is dealing with enough in both her job and personal life. La Cienaga means The Swamp, but it stands for something fictional. A lot of the surroundings in “La Cienaga” are actual locations, but there’s one spot in the film that is made up and that’s the swamp the kids hang out at in.
Lucrecia may not be in love with the stories she has written, but I enjoy watching her first feature, “La Cienaga”, and my rating is five out of five stars.
