04/09/2021 - VENICE 2021: Alex Carvalho’s debut feature is a forgettable tale, suffocated by flat, underdeveloped characters and a predictable plot

Without mincing words, Alex Carvalho’s debut feature, The Salamander [+see also:
trailer
film profile], playing in this year’s International Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, is a flawed film. The story, penned by the helmer himself, follows Catherine, a French woman in her early fifties (played by Marina Foïs), who escapes to Brazil to reach her estranged sister (Anna Mouglalis) and presumably look for some peace in her life. Catherine seems overwhelmed by her confused desires for escape, the pressures piled on by her sister and the strain of the years spent taking care of her father, who recently passed away. But a casual encounter will change her life. On the beach, she meets a twenty-something local bartender (Maicon Rodrigues), Gil, who approaches her with the pretext of advertising a party taking place that night in the club he works at.

After a few lines, and despite the language barrier, Gil starts flirting and manages to convince Catherine to spread sun cream all over his back. This scene alone reflects the weak quality of the script and of the mise-en-scène. Catherine starts trusting a complete stranger in the blink of an eye, attracted only by the man’s good looks. Soon, it all turns into a very predictable tale, where the two barely communicate with each other but immediately strike up a strong chemistry, depicted in a number of sex scenes (with varying degrees of explicitness). Meanwhile, her sister keeps on warning her about the dangers of trusting Gil, in the hope that, after having some “holiday fun”, she will finally wake up to reality. But that doesn’t happen. Catherine totally falls for the mysterious young man and enters a spiral that is obviously leading her into further trouble and later sees her embroiled in a – rather unclear – scheme involving a house.

All of the characters end up being fairly detestable, as they are driven only by personal interests or opportunities to make a profit. However, this film lacks the right dose of cynicism, some form of satire or another plot device that would justify the presence of so many heartless individuals, and this increases the distance between the viewers and the already slow-paced narrative. Ultimately, we also fail to empathise with Catherine, who is undeniably a victim but also acts incredibly naively throughout. We don’t really get why she is willing to spend all of her father’s inheritance on buying an abandoned property to open a bar and to build a life with this man, with whom she can’t even have a proper conversation.

The final third of the film – intended to disclose Gil’s motives and real feelings – gets even more chaotic and patchy. There is certainly some pathos and compassion in the two leads’ last encounter, but again, the dynamics leading up to it and its staging are over the top.

There was probably an intention to subvert the traditional power dynamics of the colonist and the colonised through a very carnal tale. The idea, which is potentially engaging, does not result in good storytelling, owing to the flat performances and the poor character development, making this layer of meaning barely perceptible.

Many questions are left unanswered or are not even tackled at all. Why does Catherine keep on falling into this downward spiral? Why doesn’t her sister help her? What made them so distant? What makes Catherine so attached to Gil, to the point of losing everything, except for their undeniable sexual chemistry? Why is she not scared by Gil’s supposedly gloomy past after seeing he is always on the run and sought by strangers? Some answers to these questions could have made Carvalho’s debut way more compelling.

The Salamander was produced by Brazil’s N Filmes, France’s Cinenovo and High Sea, and Germany’s Sancinema.