CANNES 2009 Directors’ Fortnight
An unusual evening in Navidad
After the little girl taken in by travelling performers in La Pivellina [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and the French title The Wolberg Family [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight continues to explore the theme of family, through the story of three “enfants terribles”, brought together one Christmas eve, minus the tree.
Navidad [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Christmas”) is the second feature by Chilean director Sebastián Lelio (following his debut film, incidentally entitled, The Sacred Family, which won numerous international awards). The film centres on a very young couple who break into the soon-to-be-sold house of the recently deceased father of the girl, Aurora.
The couple are freed from the tension and jealousy which threaten to separate them by the arrival of Alicia, a young girl three years their junior, whom they find in a state of hypoglycaemia.
In the wonderland of this house full of secret treasures, Aurora and Alejandro welcome Alicia and learn that the reasons for her running away are connected with her absent father, whom she’ll never meet. Disturbed by the sudden arrival of a third person, the couple’s relationship takes on the appearance of a trinity united by common unease.
The union of these three youngsters, who belong to a generation that has never known dictatorship and is bereft of collective ideals, culminates in a beautiful and natural sex scene, which enables each character to get to know themselves better. For this generation, the director commented, "the only possible revolution is an inner one".
Navidad is a slice of life, a moment shared far from the world, on Christmas Eve, a religious tradition that the protagonists celebrate in their own way, spontaneously, far from their real families – a liberty/liberation that the director explored using a screenplay without dialogue (as for his debut feature), over 75 hours of film (which he then edited meticulously), so as to capture the actors’ expressions, remarks and gestures naturally, without pressure. With the subtle intelligence of his approach founded on radical choices, Leilo emerges as a true representative of new Chilean cinema.
The film was co-produced by Pablo Mehler and Guillaume Benski for French company Divine Productions.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
