Léalo en español
Lila Avilés’ directing debut made a lot of noise on the international scene in 2018. The Chambermaid, her first feature, won awards from Havana to Minsk. This raised a lot of expectations for the screening of Totem, her second film, which bowed as part of Berlin competition. Expectations were rewarded with an intimate film and impeccable direction.
Totem follows an afternoon in the life of Sol, a seven-year-old girl. She spends the day at her grandfather’s house while her mother works; meanwhile, her aunts, uncles and grandfather prepare a birthday party for her sick father.
It soon becomes clear that something serious is going on in the family, just from the way the Sol is treated. The relatives are not just kind and loving; they are obsequious and at times overwhelming. But as is often the case with adults all over the world, after a while they tend to ignore children of an age where they don’t need constant attention and their help is not required. These children, left to their own devices, spend their time wandering about.
The entire film is well directed, but it is in these moments that Lila Avilés shows her talent. The hours that Sol spends alone, walking around the house, have their own rhythm: they are fluid, natural, and very intimate. The audience accompanies Sol and shares her experiences when she is watching insects; listening to conversations that include therapy sessions; drinking wine and asking questions at the phone´s virtual assistant. The film has echoes of Carlos Saura’s Cría cuervos and Victor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive – inadvertently so, because at the press conference in Berlin, the director said she had not seen these films.
In the role of Sol, Naima Sentíes acts more with her gaze and facial expressions than with her scant dialogue. She knows what is going on and transmits it to the audience. Diego Tenorio’s camera remains especially close, at times intimate in her presence.
The script, also written by the director, is very accurate in depicting the speech and behavior of friends and family. They all speak with the affection and care that borders on pity, so common in the presence of an ill person. The only part that feels forced and serves no purpose in the script is the presence of a woman who is a sort of medium or a healer. It feels like unnecessary comic relief in a setting where her “healing” was not needed.
From a cast that works well as a group – a family, in this case – Teresita Sánchez (who plays Mini Toy in The Chambermaid) stands out as a caregiver so sensitive and efficient that she can take care of the sick, understand Sol, and can act as an art dealer when necessary.
Totem does not resort to sentimentalism in the music or in the performances. Many of the characters get emotional, but no one cries. This is not a tearjerker; it is intimate and natural, not needing to cue us in to where the high points are with songs. Perhaps the most moving moment is watching adults talk in pig Latin, so the children won’t pick up on the situation going on. The kids don’t know the details, but fully feel what is happening.
Director, screenplay: Lila Avilés
Cast: Naíma Sentíes, Montserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasé, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo Teresita Sánchez, Juan Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios, Alberto Amado
Producers: Tatiana Graullera, Lila Avilés, Louise Riousse, Per Damgaard Hansen, Jean-Baptiste Bailly-Maitre
Cinematography: Diego Tenorio
Editing: Omar Guzmán
Sound design: Guido Berenblum
Music: Thomas Becka
Production companies: BBVA, Danish Film Institute, Hubert Bals Fund, Aide aux cinémas du monde – CNC, Visions Sud Est, with the support of the SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation)
In Spanish
World sales: Alpha Violet
Venue: Berlín Film Festival (Competition)
In Spanish
95 Minutes
