10/08/2024 - After Our Mothers, which won Cannes’ Golden Camera in 2019, César Díaz is changing tone to deliver a personal and high-tension spy film questioning parenthood and social engagement

Having turned heads on the international stage in 2019 with his documentary-flavoured debut feature film, Our Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cesar Diaz
film profile], which was presented in Cannes’ Critics’ Week and which walked away the Golden Camera, Belgian-Guatemalan director César Díaz is making his return with Mexico 86 [+see also:
interview: César Díaz
film profile], a movie presented in a world première on the Locarno Film Festival’s Piazza Grande.

It all begins with a separation. The separation of a woman from the love of her life who was killed before her eyes. The separation of a mother from her child. Revolutionary Guatemalan fighter Maria (Bérénice Bejo) finds herself forced to take exile in Mexico in order to escape the dictatorship in her homeland. For the family’s wellbeing, she leaves her baby son behind, entrusting him to his grandmother. Living life as an exile and using different identities to further her cause, Maria stays in sporadic contact with her son who is growing up far away from her, like a stranger, until the day her sick mother declares she can no longer look after the child (Matheo Labbé). Maria subsequently decides to take up the role of mother once again, but she finds herself facing a choice she’s just not prepared to make, between her ideals and her family.

It’s Maria’s viewpoint that we follow throughout the film. Focusing on this woman who’s powered by her convictions, at the expense of her private life, César Díaz endeavours to help us understand her choices and to make us question our own attitudes towards parenthood. We might not question the role of a revolutionary father, but what about a revolutionary mother? Is motherhood compatible with an underground life and armed struggle? The radical decision made by Maria at the beginning of the film hovers like a shadow over her life. She might not waver in public, but in private she’s racked with doubt. Nevertheless, she tirelessly moves forward in her quest and pursues her political ideal with determination and conviction. Making skilful use of spy film codes – lingering on the mise en scene aspect inherent to this secret life, mainly the myths Maria invents in order to protect her identity – the director infuses his story with simmering tension, cut through with a handful of explosions which mess with the delicate balance the character is struggling to achieve. Mexico 86 is a spy film, but as seen from the inside, with few stylistic effects or demonstrations of force, and always focused on Maria’s viewpoint, as demonstrated by the final chase where we stay by her side for the duration.

Reconnecting with her South American roots, Bérénice Bejo steps into the shoes of Maria and throws herself body and soul into this life of perpetual flight, as the moving target of a woman- rather than a man-hunt. Perfectly at ease in the role of a stubborn woman who finds herself trapped against her will in a dual fight against both her enemies and her allies, Bejo lends convincing consistency to this complex character, whose intentions and motivations become clearer as the story advances and make us reflect upon our own prejudices.

Mexico 86 was produced by Need Productions (Belgium) and Tripode Productions (France), in co-production with Pimienta Films (Mexico) and Menuetto (Belgium). International sales are steered by Goodfellas.

(Translated from French)