Cartas de mamá. (Letters from Mother.)

By staff -- Críticas, 8/15/2007

A television production for Radio Televisión Española, this film is a fairly close rendition of a short story by Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar (1914–84). Borges, the first to publish a Cortázar story, had high praise for Cortázar’s use of fantastic plotlines situated within normal settings and affecting ordinary characters who eventually accept the extraordinary happenings as natural. The storyline is simple: The newly wed Luis and Laura depart for Paris after their wedding in Buenos Aires, leaving behind Luis’s aging mother. As the story unfolds, it is clear that they feel guilty not about leaving the country but about the reason they left. Luis’s brother, Nico, had been dating Laura, but when Nico fell ill, Luis started keeping company with Laura. They fell in love and hid it from Nico, who eventually died. When the couple leaves for Paris, their only contact with Buenos Aires is through Luis’s mother’s letters. Things seem to be going well until, strangely, the mother announces that Nico sends greetings. A bizarre series of events lead to an enigmatic, open-ended resolution to the mystery behind the “ghost” of a dead brother. This film offers an accurate psychological picture of the newlyweds’ relationship, though the pace may seem too slow for today’s audience. Recommended for film collections emphasizing Latin American literary works. (For more on this topic, see The Impact of Literature on Latin American Film.)—Rafael Ocasio, Agnes Scott Coll., Decatur, GA