VERDICT: Ágata de Pinho impresses both in front of and behind the camera in this visceral drama about a woman who believes she will disappear on her 28th birthday.
For her debut short film, Blue Has No Dimensions, writer-director Ágata de Pinho also plays the lead role of Ara, a young woman who is convinced that when she turns 28, she will vanish. It’s a bold gambit, but one that pays off superbly and makes a certain amount of sense given the autobiographical qualities of this strange, deeply affecting tale. Leaving many narrative specifics to the viewers’ supposition, the film is like a visceral encounter – felt as much as its story is traditionally followed.
There are snippets and implications of plot details dotted throughout, such as Ara quitting her job (as she knows her life will end in 48 hours) or a medical check-up that hints at past trauma. However, these are only the signposts around which flow the more prominent, experiential aspects of Ara’s odyssey. When Ara submerges herself in seawater at the beach, de Pinho and her cinematographer, Leonor Teles, create an incredibly tactile sequence that produces an awareness of the haptic sensation Ara craves before the chance to feel anything is gone forever. There is a tangible sense of embodied existence, establishing an almost physical empathy, and heightening the anxiety about what will happen to Ara when her birthday arrives.
Although some elements remain ambiguous – such as the reason for the array of water bottles in Ara’s room – they in no way hinder the impact of the film’s denouement. Ara learns a fact that gives her some insight into her early demise which manages to be simultaneously desperate and life-affirming. In Derek Jarman’s similarly titled Blue, the colour represents both peaceful angelic reverie and the expiring body. Ágata de Pinho accomplishes a similar feat with a film that unites the transcendental and the corporeal in its cathartic, bittersweet resolution.
Director, screenplay: Ágata de Pinho
Cast:Ágata de Pinho, Diana Sá, Maria Gil, Maria Alice de Pinho
Producers: Ágata de Pinho, Filipa Reis
Cinematography: Leonor Teles
Editors: Alexander David, Tiago Siopa, Ágata de Pinho
Production company: Uma Pedra no Sapato (Portugal)
Venue: Rotterdam International Film Festival
In Portuguese
20 minutes
