Director Pablo Larraín debuts his first Argentinian production with My Sad Dead, a Netflix series set in a derelict Buenos Aires public housing neighborhood called Piedrabuena. The Spanish-language drama adapts Mariana Enríquez’s novel, opening with an elderly woman’s dying breaths and following retired doctor Ema, played by Mercedes Morán, who can see and hear the agonizing spirits of the dead. TV critic Joel Keller describes the show as a raw, unsparing, and unsettling look at death and mental illness.
The Supernatural Premise of Piedrabuena
Ema lives in her deceased mother’s home in Piedrabuena, an abandoned public housing neighborhood in Buenos Aires. Ema has possessed the ability to see ghosts since she was five years old, attributing the visions to PTSD or sleep deprivation. The neighborhood outside is populated by the lingering spirits of gun violence, police brutality, robberies, and addiction victims who repeat their final moments in excruciating pain. Joel Keller reports that Ema’s sister Lidia, played by Alejandra Flechner, arrives from Oregon with her husband Tomas and daughter Julie. Julie, portrayed by Carolina Álvarez, shares Ema’s otherworldly gift in a much more intense manner that involves sexual interactions with spirits. After a local water supply contamination accident, the boundaries between the living and the dead blur further, amplifying the cacophonous howls of suffering souls across the community.
Dehumanization and Social Neglect in the Series
The narrative frames the supernatural haunting alongside modern bureaucratic neglect. Community meetings in the series prioritize property values and the displacement of homeless people over providing shelter or support. Ambulances refuse to enter the neighborhood, and municipal authorities ignore complaints regarding polluted water for weeks. This systemic apathy manifests through automated customer service loops, decaying institutions, and public panic. Ema contrasts this societal indifference by stopping to listen, encourage, and offer acknowledgment to the wayward souls wandering the streets.
Production Background and Critical Reception
My Sad Dead serves as Pablo Larraín’s first project produced in Argentina. Joel Keller notes that the series shares a thematic companion space with the Thai thriller Delusion, which premiered on the same day. Critics point out the deliberate pacing, washed-out color palette, and a discordant soundtrack designed to evoke deep melancholia. The four-hour runtime functions largely as an epilogue to the opening death sequence, anchoring its horror in real-world cruelty and human negligence. Carolina Álvarez’s performance as Julie receives praise for addressing extreme depression and mental illness with uncommon dignity.
Worth a look