The Swamp (2001) ( La ciénaga ) ( Bagno (Der Morast) )

The Swamp (2001) (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: La ciénaga
Alternate Title: Bagno (Der Morast)
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Berlin International Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
96 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Remastered

Movie filmed in 2001 and produced in:
Argentina ( Latin America, Mexico )
France ( France, Benelux )
Spain ( Spain, Portugal )

Directed By:
Lucrecia Martel

Written By:
Lucrecia Martel

Actors:
Mercedes Morán ..... Tali
Graciela Borges ..... Mecha
Martín Adjemián ..... Gregorio
Leonora Balcarce ..... Verónica
Silvia Baylé ..... Mercedes
Sofia Bertolotto ..... Momi
Juan Cruz Bordeu ..... José
Noelia Bravo Herrera ..... Agustina
Maria Micol Ellero ..... Mariana
Andrea López ..... Isabel
Sebastián Montagna ..... Luciano
Daniel Valenzuela ..... Rafael
Franco Veneranda ..... Martín
Fabio Villafane ..... Perro
Diego Baenas ..... Joaquín

Synopsis:

A sober portrait of middle-class torpor and decadence, Argentina director Lucrecia Martel s (The Headless Woman, La niña santa) debut feature offers a glimpse into her country s dysfunctional class dynamics and tortured race relations. The film tells the story of two families' summer holiday, spent in a decaying estate in the mountains. Physical details accumulate: the insistent clinking of ice cubes in glasses, the scrape of metal chairs on a concrete patio, people splayed in beds trying to sleep through the humidity. Before long, the crowded domestic situation in both homes strains the families' nerves, exposing repressed family mysteries, and tensions that threaten to erupt into violence.

Chekhov in contemporary Argentina. Mecha and Gregorio are at their rundown country place near La Ciénaga with their teen children. It's hot. The adults drink constantly; Mecha cuts herself, engendering a trip to the hospital and a visit from her son José. A cousin, Tali, brings her children. The kids are on their own, sunbathing by the filthy pool, dancing in town, running in the hills with shotguns, driving cars without licenses. One of the teen girls loves Isabel, a family servant constantly accused of stealing. Mother and son, son and sisters, teen and Isabel are in each other's beds and bathrooms with a creepy intimacy. With no adults paying attention, who's at risk?

Set in the high plains of northwestern Argentina during the dog days of summer, Lucrecia Martel's remarkable debut film portrays an ominous semi-tropical environment of grayish mountain peaks shrouded by ragged clouds. But the movie is more than a meditation on the debilitating effects of high humidity. The steamy ambience in which the characters fester is a metaphor for creeping social decay. Instead of high drama, "La Ciénaga" presents a relentless accumulation of small, grinding incidents that portray Argentina's provincial middle class adrift in a self-pitying limbo. We learn about the characters by eavesdropping on their telephone conversations and their desultory bickerings. As "La Ciénaga" perspires from the screen, it creates a vision of social malaise that feels paradoxically familiar and new.

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 12 February, 2011.

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