Milagros Mumenthaler’s “The Currents” is one of those films that I knew was for me just from looking at one key image. The image of a young woman in a turquoise dress (which actually turned out to be a coat) conveyed enough mystery and intrigue within me, that I was determined to see the film. Whilst I had also watched the film's trailer, like I often do with most foreign films, I obscured the subtitles so I could get a feel for the film and it's images, without ruining any of its plot. Going into my MIFF screening of “The Currents”, the only thing I knew about the film was that it came out of Argentina, and yet I was still very excited to see the film, and expected it to be great.
There is so much to like in “The Currents”; the film has some incredible moments and scenes within it, but ultimately I found the whole thing a frustrating experience. The main reason for my frustration has to do with the fact that director Milagros Mumenthaler refuses to give any concrete answers within her film. After her impulsive suicide attempt in Geneva that she survives, we know all is not right with Catalina when she returns home to her husband and daughter in Buenos Aires. She has a newfound fear of water and finds herself constantly distracted to the point that she is essentially sleepwalking through her life. It is obvious that something has triggered an immense sadness within Catalina and that she is going through some sort of mental health episode, and while we are given hints and clues to what may be the origin of her pain, unfortunately Mumenthaler never reveals the true source.
I am not against a film that asks more questions than it answers and I do not fear having to do a little work to fully understand everything in a film, but this is one case where I felt the main question needed an answer to it. However this uncertainty may be exactly what director Milagros Mumenthaler is going for as Catalina herself is struggling to find her footing in life, grasping at anything to keep her afloat, rather than be washed away by the currents of her life. You can sense even Catalina is unsure why she is feeling the way she does, and that it has seriously unbalanced her, but instead of dealing with it properly she prefers to “play act” through her life, trying to convince everyone that nothing is wrong. However this causes even more angst amongst her family and friends because it is so obvious that the opposite is true, and even though Catalina is physically there, she is never mentally present or in the moment; again, she is sleepwalking through her life. At one point her husband even says to her “it is like you never returned [from Geneva]”. (I should mention that outside of one childhood friend, Catalina does not share the details of her suicide attempt to anyone due to the shame and guilt she feels). I would say that for the first hour of “The Currents” I was totally onboard with it, but things then go from bad to worse for this poor woman until she is hospitalised and then forced to confront her trauma and look within herself to find the source of all her pain, so she can finally begin the healing process. It is through this journey that the film lost me, as Milagros Mumenthaler suddenly adds a layer of magic realism to “The Currents” that I felt did more to confuse than to illuminate. It is funny that I should use the word “illuminate” there because it is an extended scene set in a lighthouse that caused my break from the film.
What is interesting about this scene, that in and of itself is incredibly beautiful and so well done, but as a part of this film, it has a jarring effect because it is so stylistically different from everything that has come before it. While Catalina does have some flights of fancy or dark imaginations earlier on, this whole sequence is presented in a completely different fashion, and like I mentioned earlier, it becomes rather confusing. I assume Catalina is searching through moments, places and people that were / are important in her life, looking for either the source of her trauma or for the person that will help ground her once more.
You may think that following a character in the depths of depression and despair may end up being something of a hard watch, however “The Currents” is strangely mesmerising and this is no doubt thanks to Isabel Aimé González-Sola's stellar lead performance and the always beautiful cinematography from Gabriel Sandru. I can imagine that the role of Catalina would have been incredibly hard to perform being in such a dark place for the entirety of the film. González-Sola is fantastic though, in what is mainly an internal performance, be it that her character is always trying to hide her true feelings. Dialogue is limited too so most of the work is done behind the eyes or through her body language, and I think in particular she does an excellent job of coming across vacant. Unfortunately I was not a fan of Esteban Bigliardi's performance, who plays Pedro, Catalina's husband, as he comes across as far too cold and angry towards his wife as opposed to the appropriate worry and concern he should be showing for her. In fact he has a real abrasive quality on the film, as I really wasn't a fan of most of the scenes he was involved in. I must briefly mention Emma Fayo Duarte who plays Sofia, the couple's young daughter, who is very fun in the role and brings a real cheeky edge to her. She also has an utterly heartbreaking scene at the end of the film when she instinctively understands what her mother is up to and does anything to make her stop.
Overall, whilst there is a whole lot of good within “The Currents”, due to the way director Milagros Mumenthaler handled the second half of her film and refused to give any concrete answers, I ultimately found it to be a frustrating experience. Both the lead performance from Isabel Aimé González-Sola and the cinematography are top notch, and make “The Currents” well worth watching just for that, but the inclusion of magic realism towards the end causes a jarring effect that makes the whole film more confusing than it should be.
3 Stars.
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