Las Plantas (Roberto Doveris, 2015)
This understated Chilean film is one of my favorites of the last decade. It is Mr. Doveris’s directorial debut (as far as I know), and it has the kind of confidence in its own still, quiet moments and the kind of depth to its protagonist and her world that one usually only finds in the work of more established filmmakers. I’ve seen it twice now, and the spell it cast the first time only became stronger after my second viewing.
Throughout the film, Flor is frequently seen through glass - windows, doors, windshields, an aquarium. It always feels like we are observing an organism on a slide. And that is kind of what she is. She’s trapped by poverty, by the lack of adult caregivers in her young life, and by the too-adult responsibility of caring for her brother. In a world that seems indifferent toward her.
But all of the glass barriers seem like a manifestation of a teenager’s sexual frustration, too. She needs escape and release, and she needs these things more intensely because of the pressure she’s under. Flor is horny, but as the film begins she hasn’t figured out how to express or experience her desires. And so she starts by observing boys through her laptop screen and then through the window in the door to her house’s entryway. Although I do not like the literal behavior of the man who eventually crosses the barrier and enters her house (this part of the movie made me anxious), I think that their exchange once he is inside is a symbolically sound and powerful place for the story to wind up.
I am glad that Flor knows what she wants and pursues it on her own terms. I am grateful that she makes it through things safely and with a capacity to feel joy. Everyone should see this movie if they can.
P.S./additional thoughts and a question -
I wish that the comic, Las Plantas, was real.
What character from what thing is Flor dressed as when she has the blue wig on?
Violeta Castillo, the actor who plays Flor, makes music, and I think it’s really good. She has a Bandcamp page!
