MovieChat Forums > La nana (2011) Discussion > May be pointing out the obvious but... (...

May be pointing out the obvious but... (spoilers)

posted 14 years ago by Iamanis
8 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen anyone mention this on the boards so far, but I strongly believe that Raquelis a lesbian and that that actually turned out to be a large factor in how hostile she treated the other maids as well as Camila. Raquel didn't seem like she really wanted to be gay and felt kind of guilty for it because of her mother or her family which may be why she doesn't like talking about them. She crosses out Camila's face on photos and treats Camila with hatred just to cover up her desire. And when Lucy (the 3rd maid) came into the picture she was treated with similar hostility because she was attractive, and it was only when Raquel saw Lucy naked that she melted and became a soft normal person again. When she embraced her emotions she was a calmer more pleasant person, but when she denied them, she was miserable and hateful. She also seemed to be a virgin when Uncle Eric wanted to sleep with her, and she didn't want to.

This is how I viewed the film, I didn't think it would go this direction. I thought it was going to stay specifically a territorial thing but I don't think that that is the whole picture.

I've come to the conclusion that my guts have *beep* for brains

[–] HorrorChick 14 years ago

You make an interesting point. The moment I thought that maybe Raquel was a lesbian was when she entered Lucy's room while she was sleeping, and I thought I noticed some longing on Raquel's part.

However, as far as your statement about Raquel's desire for Camila... I think her crossing out her picture had more to do with feeling betrayed by Camila, since she basically raised her (as a pseudo-mom), but Camila just treats her like a maid ("you're just the maid"). I don't think Raquel wanted Camila in that way.

I'm not sure if Raquel is a lesbian or just socially awkward and lost, due to the fact that she had been with that family for 20 years (meaning she was 21 or younger when she first arrived). Think about what an impact that would have on a young girl...growing up not really having an identity besides the one her job provides for her (maid). That's why I think she has a penchant for just repeating things she hears or sees, because she doesn't have a fully formulated personality of her own. She bases her experiences on other people's because she has no experiences (outside taking care of the family) of her own.

For example, she buys the same sweater that Pilar owns. She repeats what Lucy says about jogging ("just going fishing"). She says the sex is good even though she probably didn't even go through with it or if she did, it was probably her first experience with sex.

[–] bavery-4 14 years ago

I think you're reading WAY too much into this. If her hostility was based on attraction, why was she that way with the older maid (the one who looked like she bounced off of every branch on the ugly tree)?

Occam's Razor is a very useful tool when thinking critically about movies. If every event in the movie can be explained without her being a lesbian (they can), then there is no more reason to claim that she's a lesbian than there is to claim that she acts the way she does because her employer raped her.

[–] jacowium 14 years ago

You are right in the sense that her hostility was rather a deeply rooted character/territory issue instead of attempts to cover up lesbianism. She was, after all, antagonistic to the plain-looking Mercedes as well, and in all three cases did she show that anti-social behaviour before being introduced to them. She simply didn't want any "competitors" around.

The earlier posters did raise some interesting points though, and there were a moment or two during the screening when I began to suspect that Raquel may be confused with her sexuality. The movie doesn't prove that she is not a lesbian either. Her behaviour when Eric made his advances gives some credence to that theory, although I don't think that was the director's intention at all. It's clear that she had a lot of other mental issues and she just wasn't up for that level of intimacy with anyone.

The most puzzling behaviour to me was actually that of Pilar (the mother). Perhaps I'm over-protective but had I ever found anyone damaging a photo of my kids, that person wouldn't even be allowed back into the house, ever again. Yes, Raquel helped raise the kids, but she wasn't of the same blood, so I can't really fathom how a loving mother could act as if nothing happened. Also, Pilar leaving the kitchen while Raquel was being unreasonably mean to the daughter Camila, justifiably angered Camila.

I do think for all of Raquel's failures, Pilar has to bear some of the responsibility for allowing all the unpleasantness to occur on her watch. It could be argued that Pilar's faith in Raquel was vindicated in the end by Raquel's apparent softening to other persons, but she wasn't setting a great example of a mother in the process.

[–] upnsmoque 14 years ago

Camila was a pain in the butt.
I thought the scratching out of the photo was just a way of releasing anger towards someone who she didn't like.
I have many maiden aunts, and I've even seen my picture scratched out. It's such a small burst of anger, you usually laugh off such things.
It also showed that as a maid, she was somewhat powerless, if that's what she had to resort to release her anger.
I didn't see any homoerotic overtones, I just saw a socially backwards person.

[–] lucad_99 13 years ago

I knew eventually and inevitably someone would say that. This woman desperately needed a friend. She finally found her friend. I think the scene in bed with the man was the director saying, no, c'mon the woman needs a friend, please don't think she's a lesbian, the movie is deeper than that. After all, Lucy is the first person to treat her with dignity. It's not all about sex in this world. I think I may be pointing out the obvious here, but it's a story about a lonely woman who wants revenge from the world, like scrooge, till someone shows her kindness. But as I was watching, I did think, *beep* someone's going to write here that she's a lesbian... too bad.

[–] clocksnmirrors-932-761321 10 years ago

Reading your response, someone might get the idea you think there's something wrong with being a lesbian.

[–] the sphynx 13 years ago

Personally, I doubt it. While it's not completely implausible, the evidence is thin. In particular, Raquel started to melt for Lucy in the bathroom, when Lucy stopped her from disinfecting the shower and gave her some real human sympathy, BEFORE the nude scene. If you pay attention, Raquel conspicuously hesitates before locking Lucy out, and then opens the door again much sooner than she did for either of the other two maids. Only then does she find her third "competitor" sunbathing nearly nude, and crack up laughing at her daring and sense of humor.

I don't get any vibe that she desires the daughter physically. Could be envy of Camila's being young, female, with her whole life ahead of her, and too rich and privileged to ever have to be a domestic servant; could be that Camila doesn't treat her like one of the family, as she longs to be; could just be an unexplained antipathy that grew as they bounced minor hostilities off of each other over time.

And I think the reason she doesn't like talking about her mom is that she doesn't want to remember her birth family while subsuming herself in her "adopted" employer family.

Being a virgin at an advanced age (early 40s) would be plenty enough reason to be very hesitant about having sex with a man you just met, no matter how charming and flattering he was. She'd naturally be self-conscious, afraid of being vulnerable, afraid of making a fool of herself, afraid of the pain. All that is easily understandable without her needing to be a lesbian too.

I do think she was crazy enough about Lucy to at least briefly consider going in that direction, if Lucy had wanted to. That much I'll give you.

[–] Dollhouse_89 9 years ago

Being a virgin at an advanced age (early 40s) would be plenty enough reason to be very hesitant about having sex with a man you just met, no matter how charming and flattering he was. She'd naturally be self-conscious, afraid of being vulnerable, afraid of making a fool of herself, afraid of the pain. All that is easily understandable without her needing to be a lesbian too.

Yea I don't think that it makes her gay just because she wasn't more enthusiastic about finally losing her virginity to a guy she just met. If anything, her chronic loneliness and lack of social skills/development at her age would make it even harder. She tried, but it was way out of her comfort zone.