With “Caótica Ana” [Eng. Title: Chaotic Ana], I’ve covered to-date the entire feature-length filmography of maestro Julio Medem. I took my time posting this review mainly for two reasons – I wanted this to coincide with the release of his latest film (jointly credited with six other directors that also includes Gaspar Noé), “7 días en la Habana”, out middle of March. The other reason is that this happens to be my least favourite Medem.
I’m not implying that this is in any way a terrible film – far from it. Made after a gap of nearly six years, the previous one being his critically acclaimed Lucía y el Sexo, it has all the intense passion and graceful beauty we’ve come to expect from Julio Medem’s films, his brilliant cinematic-eye even experiments with some outrageous camera angles here, the music is magical, and Jocelyn Pook would also later collaborate in Medem’s next film Habitación en Roma. The snappy comic-book style editing by Medem himself also helps narrate the film effectively. This may even be his most expensive production judging by the vast number of locations used – Ibiza, Madrid, New York and Arizona to name a few.
The reason for this film not featuring among my favourites is perhaps the screenplay that seems to tackle too many themes with equal intensity that makes it difficult for us to reflect upon the titular character’s complexity. That may well be the intention of the director, to show the ‘chaotic’ nature of the main character, but it doesn’t engage us beyond the visual level to the extent his earlier classics did, perhaps because there wasn’t enough time, and consequently depth. A case in point is the idea of ‘opening doors’ to face up to past ghosts, which I’m sure would have been more rewarding if additional screen time was dedicated. Having said that, the film is replete with flashes of Sr. Medem’s genius, notably the manner in which the opening scene of the hawk and dove sets up the penultimate scene ‘poetically’. Also, Medem’s cheeky sense of humour is amply evident throughout the film – the charmer that he is, he knows how to push the boundaries without causing too much alarm. Needless to say, Recommended Viewing..!
Magical Julio Medem:
You know you’re watching a Medem when you find scenes like this, as when Ana feels a ‘connection’ with fellow student Said during an art class.
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DVD Details:
As I mentioned in an earlier Medem review, you get great value for money by buying the Julio Medem 6-DVD box-set rather than buying his films individually. That’s the one I recommend again.
Amazon 6-DVD Box-set Link
Storyline:
Ana lives with her father in a cave in Ibiza – they make a living selling Ana’s paintings to tourists (the artworks were originally by Medem’s late sister Ana, to whom this film is also dedicated). Justine, a patron of arts sees her work and invites Ana back to Madrid, where she could live and work alongside other talented young people to explore her artistic potential. While having an optimistic (and at times naive) outlook on life in general, Ana also possesses acute senses, to the extent that she could even see herself and people across earlier lives and times. She meets fellow student Said and falls in love with him instantly, sensing a deep connection between them. After Said leaves unexpectedly, Ana continues to follow her instincts, which leads her to New York. Medem describes the film as a journey, a voyage of discovery Ana undertakes to understand herself, and the world around her.
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Compilation: Manuela Vellés
Some scenes of the utterly charming Manuela Vallés in Julio Medem’s new age drama, “Caótica Ana”.
Scene Guide:
- Brief scene, no nudity but interesting nevertheless, at a club in Ibiza. Ana has this special faculty to recognise people from their past lives, After showing us a Roman centurion and a Napoleonic soldier who she finds instinctively repulsive, she sees a guy who was apparently a horse in earlier life..! 😀
- It appears Ana is the only nudist at the beach. Ana is played by the charming actress with the most disarming smile, Manuela Vellés.
- Ana in one of the school plays.
- Ana and Said hit it off and end up in bed. There’s an air of tenderness despite the apparently intense love making.
- Later that night Said is restless and had to be consoled by Ana in the bathroom – disturbing dreams, he says.
- Stowing away in the yacht of her best friend’s estranged dad, Ana acts the catalyst to reconnect him to parenthood.
- A revelation – a distraught Ana realises what her actual connection with Said in a previous life was.
- New York. Ana is part of the catering crew for a senator who allegedly was largely responsible for the decision to wage war on Iraq. She offers herself readily and the dialogues are in English, so you’ll get the idea of what’s going on. It starts out in a kinky fashion but soon turns ugly and unpleasant, after Ana’s ‘poetic act’ goes unappreciated..!
- Full circle, Ana at the beach again to finish things off nicely.
Download Links
Contains shocking scenes towards the end, download at your own discretion.
Part 1 | Part 2
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What an incredible beauty. She certainly pulls off the intensity of this character without skipping a beat…
She’s a beautiful and gifted actress indeed – a fine performance for a debut.
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Julio Medem is one of my favourite directors based on his films from Vacas (1991) up to & including Habitacion en Roma (2010). I am far less enamoured with the 2 films that have since followed, Mama and Arbol de Sangre.
My absolute favourites are La Ardilla Roja (1993), Tierra (1996), Lucia y el Sexo (2001) & Habitacion en Roma. Caotica Ana would be right up there with these if it weren’t for some problems I have with the finished film.
First of all I have to applaud Medem for tackling what I consider to one of the most important topics (and problems) of all, patriarchy its subjugation of women. And not just women, but the the feminine itself. This is, of course, an enormous topic – I would refer any interested person to the book ‘The Great Cosmic Mother’ by Barbara Mor (& Monica Sjöo), published in 1987, chronicling the history of woman kind. Tackling such a subject was extremely brave and ambitious of Medem (and by God, he was made to pay the price in his native Spain with its still-going-strong machismo!), but trying to do it justice in a 2-hour movie was never going to work. Also, making it about the last 2,000 years when patriarchy goes back at least 3,000 years, was a rather odd choice.
Neither did it help that during filming Medem and his original actress playing Ana, the excellent Maria Valverde, had a falling out over artistic differences, leading to Valverde’s exit. Manuela Velles was a very last minute replacement. Given the circumstances, coupled with the fact that it also was her debut, Velles does a really good job in a difficult role. She certainly managed to carry the film even though in some scenes she seems clearly directed rather than performing organically. Unfortunately the actress has so far failed to live up to the promise of her debut, recently increasingly trading in her hitherto naturalistic style for overacting.
bThere is certainly lots to enjoy in this film. Visually, it’s just stunning. Including the animated visions of the title character.
Incidentally, the paintings coming to life in those scenes are by Medem’s sister who had tragically died in a car accident a couple of years before the making of the film. Indeed, it was both her death and the themes of her art that were the starting point of Caotica Ana, thus probably making it Medem’s most personal film to date.
For me one of the greatest failings of the film is that we are never privvy to any of Ana’s trances during which she recounts the memories of her past lives. All we ever get is a montage of pictures showing her floating in the air etc., watched by fascinated onlookers (including her friends and mentors). These trances and their traumatic revelations are arguably the most important elements of the narrative. As such we, as the audience, need to see at least 1 or 2 examples of them to really understand their immensity & why they are driving Ana increasingly to madness (she never consciously remembers what happened during the trances, thus it keeps building up in her subconscious). Instead, we are only ever told verbally what happened – a very unsatisfying, frustrating and un-filmic choice by one of the most visionary of film makers. In her trances we are told Ana relives the lives of countless women, all previous incarnations of herself, throughout history. These women, though strong, were all killed either directly or indirectly by men.
Finally it all comes to a riveting climax in the desert of the Southwestern States where Ana channels her first incarnation, a priestess of the Pueblos Indians as she is attacked.
And after this climax the film should have ended. Instead, the action goes back to (a visually very grungy) New York for a 15 minute coda during which Ana literally shits on the representative of aggressive masculine American imperialism. This scene, in my opinion, is very clunky, poorly written & executed. After being shat on the guy attacks Ana with a vase, seemingly killing her. But she gets up again, saying a Doric vase couldn’t harm her as she is Greek. This line doesn’t make any sense in this context as ancient Greek culture, both Mycenaean & Hellenic, was quite patriarchal.
So all in all, I have mixed feelings about the film. However, there is lots to enjoy, the subject matter is fascinating & relevant and I’d definitely recommend it!
That’s a nice review Thor, and thanks for the additional snippets concerning the production which I wasn’t aware of.