"Bardem plays Esteban, a movie director and celebrated Oscar and Cannes Palme winner: a charming and worldly man who, in the film's increasingly disturbing sequence, reveals himself to be at the moment of opaque midlife crisis. He is married with two children but has chosen to make contact with his grownup daughter from an earlier relationship, having been out of touch for many years: the child of the co-star of his debut movie who (tellingly) quit acting right after that."
"Esteban schedules a lunch to offer Emilia the lead in his new 1930s-set movie about Spain's colonial exploitation of western Sahara. Sorogoyen, Bardem and Luengo show us what a tense meeting it is: Esteban is not drinking these days, but Emilia orders a beer and a red wine. Esteban blandly assures her there is nothing nepo in the job offer and beamingly wonders if they might go to the movies together as they did when she was younger."
"Emilia promptly kills his good mood by angrily reminding her dad of their trip to see Kill Bill: Volume 2 when she was 12 and he showed up drunk and high and made a scene that emotionally scarredher for life. Furiously, Esteban says she has misremembered and misinterpreted this event; his gaslighting doesn't cancel the job offer, though he warns he might be tough on her during filming."
"The scene is set for a film shoot of pure abusive cruelty, in ironic contrast to his project's supposed high-minded criticism of colonial patria."
A film centers on Esteban, a charming, Oscar- and Cannes-winning movie director facing an opaque midlife crisis. He is married with two children and seeks contact with his grownup daughter Emilia after years of distance. Esteban schedules a lunch to offer Emilia the lead in his new 1930s-set movie about Spain’s colonial exploitation of western Sahara. The meeting turns tense as Emilia recalls a childhood trip to see Kill Bill: Volume 2, when Esteban arrived drunk and high, made a scene, and emotionally scarred her. Esteban denies and reframes her account, gaslighting her while still keeping the job offer and warning he may be tough during filming. The film shoot becomes a setting for abusive cruelty that contrasts with the project’s stated moral critique.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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