Elena is 65 and nearing the terminal stages of Parkinson's; she can barely walk with a cane. She lives in a modest but spacious house in a Buenos Aires suburb with her daughter Rita, in her forties, who takes care of Elena's increasing needs. Rita is a teacher in the same high school she attended as a teenager. She is out of a bad marriage and trying to form a new life with her boyfriend Pablo. There are flashbacks to various past times which throw some light on Elena's relationship with Rita and Elena's efforts, not always successful, to be a good mother.
Rita takes one morning Elena to the hairdresser but fails to pick her up. At night, a car stops in front of Elena's house. We see flashing lights though the curtains of the darkened house. A policeman knocks and informs Elena of the sudden death of Rita and asks her to the morgue to identify the body. The police, not without reason considers Rita's death a suicide and closes the case. Elena is not satisfied with the perfunctory police proceedings and initiates a series of inquiries over the possible causes of her daughter's death, that she does not believe a suicide. In the process, she interviews (and antagonizes) the doctor that prescribed antidepressants for Rita's, her students, her friends of high school time and even Father Juan, the parish priest.
I was not convinced. Some of the flashbacks are not smoothly integrated in the tale. At the end we know something about Elena and Rita's past but nothing is very relevant to Rita's suicide or murder. And, there are a few improbabilities in the plot such as: a priest discovering a (presumably) dead body in church premises phoning the police and instructing them to appear only after Mass is over. And, why is Elena informed of the demise of her daughter with an eight hour delay? All in all, disappointing. There are some positives however, one the outstanding acting job of Mercedes Morán.
Rita takes one morning Elena to the hairdresser but fails to pick her up. At night, a car stops in front of Elena's house. We see flashing lights though the curtains of the darkened house. A policeman knocks and informs Elena of the sudden death of Rita and asks her to the morgue to identify the body. The police, not without reason considers Rita's death a suicide and closes the case. Elena is not satisfied with the perfunctory police proceedings and initiates a series of inquiries over the possible causes of her daughter's death, that she does not believe a suicide. In the process, she interviews (and antagonizes) the doctor that prescribed antidepressants for Rita's, her students, her friends of high school time and even Father Juan, the parish priest.
I was not convinced. Some of the flashbacks are not smoothly integrated in the tale. At the end we know something about Elena and Rita's past but nothing is very relevant to Rita's suicide or murder. And, there are a few improbabilities in the plot such as: a priest discovering a (presumably) dead body in church premises phoning the police and instructing them to appear only after Mass is over. And, why is Elena informed of the demise of her daughter with an eight hour delay? All in all, disappointing. There are some positives however, one the outstanding acting job of Mercedes Morán.