25/09/2024 - Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato's second and stimulating feature joins the league of titles that strongly question the untouchable happiness that being a mother seemed to bring

Surfacing [+see also:
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film profile], a film written and directed by Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, held its world premiere in the New Directors competition section of the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival. This is the second time the Argentinean filmmakers are participating in this event with a joint project, after their first film La novia del desierto, which was featured in the Horizontes Latinos section after being screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2017.

This new story, with a strong psychological and visual power, stars Maricel Álvarez (seen in Biutiful [+see also:
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interview: Belén Funes
film profile]), playing the boy's swimming teacher.

This project deals with families, silences, repressions and maternity, supported by details, suggestions and beautiful and dramatic locations that build up the emotional state not only of the protagonist, but of the whole film. It tells the story of how Sofia, in secret mourning, must welcome home her son who returns after years behind bars. This reunion will represent a chance for both of them to overcome the impassable distance that has separated them ever since the event that led to the boy's imprisonment. 

A painful air of mystery hangs over the film with a slow unveil of the terrible secrets hidden by the characters in this drama. As in We Need to Talk about Kevin [+see also:
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interview: Lynne Ramsay
film profile], but without reaching its kamikaze extremes, Surfacing speaks of terrifying motherhood, of the chains that it sometimes creates and of the dependencies that are also established between mother and kin. Additionally, a certain whiff of incest, as even the central actress is slightly reminiscent of Jill Clayburgh in Bernardo Bertolucci's La luna, another title about excessive sentimental attachments.

Surfacing also portrays a social class that has everything materially, but lacks mental flexibility. It shows in detail how domination between members of a household becomes dangerously normalised and how homophobia can lead to painful, emasculating and shameful repression. But above all, it shows that the golden dream of motherhood can turn into a distressing nightmare. As expressed in one of the quotes from this interesting feature film that leaves a lasting impression, when the protagonist sees her baby for the first time, fresh from her body, “I felt both joy and horror.”

Surfacing is a Spanish-Argentinian co-production by Setembro Cine, Tarea Fina and Tandem Films. Its international sales will be managed by the US agency Visit Films.

(Translated from Spanish by Vicky York)