MovieChat Forums > El pasado (2007) Discussion > a movie for grown ups, please

a movie for grown ups, please


I can't stand to find comments displayed on the main film page like "uhhh, like, this movie totally suxxxxxx". And no further explanation is necessary.

I found the movie deeply disturbing. Sofia is like a clock bomb. The twisted home, the twisted aunt, the masturbation references. The scene at the park, I thought she was going to push the baby or something, she was really about to do something as we could see.

The cuts are so clever and they let you imagine a lot. You have to construct the story in a way it's not commonly seen in movies - you really have to make an effort to connect the time passages. And you can do it. We don't have to receive the whole message explained, we can digest the movie this way, too.



*** SPOILERS ***


The vanishments are also puzzling. The second woman simply vanishes and a year is past. Carmen, as well, after the hijack she simply vanishes. And when he returns to Sofia's house, I was just feeling sick. I couldn't stand her presence on the screen, after all the degeneration of Gael's character.

Not to mention the photographs. Rímini (a short for reminiscence, perhaps) simply refuses to deal with that "corpse" composed by the pictures, and there are consequences - Sofia gets obsessed as someone living by the side of a dead body for years.

The picture of Lucio (which did not appear naked before) also brings the feeling that she was not seeking for a son of Rimini, but for Rimini, naked, on her bedroom, on the kid. That's another disturbing point.

By far, this is the most disturbing and tense psychologial thriller/drama I've seen in years. It's like a Polanski film, but with a less cruel view and more of a morbid/pathological illustration of the a human being obsession with another one. I'd rate it 9 out of 10. Babenco really got this right.

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Where did you see this and when? I can't seem to find anything about a US release...

"Saying 'I'm sorry' is the same as saying 'I apologize.' Except at a funeral."

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I've yet to see this film because US release is nonexistent, but I get the impression that the people who hated it maybe weren't comfortable with how emotional and raw it is; that's how it seemed to me at least. Some people are just uncomfortable with seeing emotion in it's rawest form expressed on screen, especially if there are no happy endings. It's not too often you see a male character in a film actually sobbing because his ex is so, well, crazy, though there have been countless "crazy women" portrayed in films! Most of the time, the guy would be bitching about his crazy ex over a poker game or something, something to detach you from how that would actually feel.

Is that the impression you have, after watching the film?



"I guess I started smoking when I was about...four."

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Thank you, blur4fun!

Excellent observations, especially the Polanski comment - I though the same thing while watching the film.

This is a film that needs to be watched multiple times to be appreciated, and I intend to read the book as soon as it arrives in my mailbox.

10/10 Masterpiece.

And another vicious email to the Academy Awards board for failing to nominate yet another brilliant film.

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I think many people went to see this movie with the wrong expectations. Perhaps since this is a movie directed by Héctor Babenco they were expecting to see something similar to Carandiru or Pixote. Perhaps the people who hates it expected to see a formulaic romantic comedy "a la Hollywood".
El pasado could have been better but is not a complete disaster as some people says. The story is interesting if not too plausible. Plus Gael is great as usual. Finally the pace, score, cinematography, etc. reminded me early Babenco, even some works by Resnais, Ozon, and of course Truffaut.

El pasado is not a winner but neither a stinker. Recommended for those who likes non-conventional dramas.

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Whilst I agree that there were many disturbing images and that films do not have to explain everything to be coherent, I found this film didn't work for the following reasons. The characters are insufficiently drawn. Sofia's and Carmen's were the best of the lot. As a result I'm left with a series of baffling scenes in a very beautifully shot film. There is a tension in any film between focus on a specific scene or moment and its connection with the rest of the film. This film lacked connectedness and that rests for me on the imperfect characterisation of Rimini.

Polanski's films focus more on character than a timeline, which seemed to be the preoccupation of this film.

One of the most interesting moments in the film is the club in honour of Adele H and women who have been abandoned and remain obsessed to the point of mental illness. But this was just another moment.

Fatima had a fetish for a wiggle in her scoot

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