Especially at night It is a film, above all, sad; above all, of actresses; above all, deep; about a story, above all, unfairly forgotten. But above all Especially at night it is, above all else, lucid cinema that questions the past to find the hidden keys to the present and, who knows, the future. Said like this, it seems above all complicated and, in reality, it is very simple in its clarity, in its depth and even in its opportunity.
The newcomer Víctor Iriarte presented his debut feature in the section known as Giornate degli Autori (Authors Days) and, beyond being one of the two Spaniards in Venice (the other is Juan Antonio Bayona), he discovered himself as one of the most daring and rigorous proposals from what has been seen so far. Above all.
The film follows the trail of a mother (Lola Duenas) determined to find another mother (Ana Torrent). They are united by the same son (Manuel Egozkue). The first gave birth to him, they stole him in full Francoism and handed him over to the second. With this starting point, the director builds an itinerant story (which is also a story of discovery) with the soul of noir traveling from Spain to Portugal. «It is about giving a voice to both of them, since they are both mothers and victims of a history of violence. And do it without pointing to one as guilty and the other as simply affected, but without equidistance. It is clear who is responsible”, says Iriarte and continues: “The idea is to review a story that has been wanted to be covered up like so many others. The great taboo Definitely, the Transition admits another reading that is not only the triumphalist one that they have sold us ».
Despite the declaration of principles, and to avoid misunderstandings, Especially at night It is not a political film no matter how obvious its obviously political intent may be. It is not about settling scores, but about throwing them out, which, although it seems the same, is not. The film navigates in a figurative and even real sense inside some fractured lives. And he doesn’t do it so much to solve an enigma as to stop at the strange mystery of motherhood, loss and, where appropriate, love. The theft of children is both the argument and the excuse, the reason and the metaphor. Ultimately, what is at issue is the, by force, complex and tight network of dependencies that makes us what we are, or what we want to be, or what we have no choice but to be. It sounds lyrical and, indeed, it is.
Be that as it may, what counts is the delicate and precise way in which Especially at night it is built from a timeless reality that speaks of identity (whether that of the protagonists or, for that matter, of an entire country) and recognition; of memory recovered and time spent (or lost). The works of both Dueñas and Torrent and the newcomer Egozkue surprise for their sincerity and their almost mimetic ability to adapt to a narrative that wants to be documentation of reality and enthusiastic fabrication; proof and refutation at the same time. The film opens with a quote in the form of a mirror by Roberto Bolaños and it is no coincidence. Especially at night It is, above all, very sad. Undoubtedly, and above all, one of the jewels of the year for Spanish cinema.