A mysterious, sublime, expressionistic, dreamlike, semi-autobiographical non-story about a family living in the grandeur of Mexico's wilds. Best Director Award at Cannes.
Juan and Natalia are a middle-class couple with two adorable toddlers and a big house in the mountains that is tended by a team of unruly handymen of questionable loyalty who operate out of a corrugated-iron hut in the valley below. At one stage, possibly before the kids' birth, Juan and Natalia jet off for a sex holiday in Europe, where Natalia is shared around in a scene of mass nudity. At another Juan hits his dog so hard that the animal dies. There's also a flash-forward to a family gathering and two scenes of English schoolboys playing rugby. The scenes run in associative order, and the effect is like sitting down in front of a stash of bespoke home-movies shown out of sequence and with no context provided.
“The whole idea of "light after darkness" seems appealing to me in terms of intimate experience, of being a human living in the Western world. In a sense we all live in the darkness of our daily frustrations. We manage to be free and pure even though we may lead a dramatic life. Yet, I hope the light would come after us to enlighten the world for our children.” (Carlos Reygadas)
Carlos Reygadas
Born in 1971 in Mexico City. Having studied international law in Mexico and London, he forsook the promising career of an attorney in 1998 and, as an untrained actor, made four short films. His first full-length film, Japan, proved to be a great festival success. He has won two Best Director Awards at the Cannes Film Festival, for Silent Light and Post tenebras lux.