Hermanas
Encyclopedia
Hermanas is a 2005
Argentine
, Brazil
ian and Spanish
drama film
written and directed by Julia Solomonoff
, her first feature motion picture. The picture has a number of producers, including: Mariela Besuievski, Pablo Bossi, Florencia Enghel, Gerardo Herrero, Vanessa Ragone, Walter Salles
, and Ariel Saúl.
The film features Valeria Bertuccelli
, Ingrid Rubio
, among others.
, and the other to Texas
, United States
.
After eight years in Spain, Natalia (Ingrid Rubio
) travels to Texas to visit her sister Elena (Valeria Bertuccelli
), who's now a suburban wife and mother.
She brings with her their father's manuscript of his last novel. The unpublished novel reveals the story of their family during the Argentine dictatorship.
Using extensive flashbacks of the sisters early years in Argentina during the junta dictatorship, the director reveals family guilt and suppressed resentment.
's reactionary military junta assumed power on March 24, 1976. During the junta's rule: the parliament was suspended, unions, political parties and provincial governments were banned, and in what became known as the Dirty War
between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared from society.
Jeannette Catsoulis, film critic for The New York Times
liked the film, especially the acting of Valeria Bertuccelli
and Ingrid Rubio
, and wrote, "Though constrained by a directing style that insists on coloring within the lines, the movie is most successful in the rocky emotional spaces in which the sisters renegotiate their relationship and in which Elena, struggling with English, endures the painful process of assimilation...both actresses make their director look very good indeed."
In the same vein, Jonathan Holland, film critic for Variety
magazine, appreciated the acting but gave the film a mixed review and wrote, "The political skeleton of 1970's Argentina rolls out of the closet to mostly positive effect in Julia Solomonoff's Sisters, a solidly-built but somewhat airless debut from the assistant director of The Motorcycle Diaries
. The complex plot doesn't fully exploit the possibilities for suspense, but first-class perfs, great atmospherics and an upbeat message combine to make the pic work better as a sibling drama than as a thriller."
Critic V.A. Mesetto thought the screenplay was predictable but also likes the acting, and wrote, "Solomonoff draws out vivid performances by Valeria Bertuccelli (Elena) and Ingrid Rubio (Natalia) that make up for the script's predictability."
Film critic Ed Gonzalez wrote, "Solomonoff doesn't strike very interesting contrasts between past and present, but her actresses certainly do: Rubio and Bertucelli express how resentment eats away at their characters' sisterhood so richly that the many flashbacks to Argentina, shot uninterestingly in gritty hand-held gestures, seem almost unnecessary."
on April 14, 2005. It opened wide in the country on April 28, 2005.
The film was screened at various film festivals, including: the Toronto Film Festival, Canada
, on September 9, 2005; the São Paulo International Film Festival
, Brazil
; the Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain
; the Bangkok International Film Festival, Thailand
; the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; and others.
In the United States
it opened in New York City
on December 6, 2006.
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Julia Solomonoff
Julia Solomonoff
Julia Solomonoff is an Argentine film actor, producer, film and television director, and screenplay writer.She works in the cinema of Argentina.-Filmography:Directing & Writer* Octavo 51...
, her first feature motion picture. The picture has a number of producers, including: Mariela Besuievski, Pablo Bossi, Florencia Enghel, Gerardo Herrero, Vanessa Ragone, Walter Salles
Walter Salles
Walter Moreira Salles, Jr. is a Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence.-Life and career:Salles was born in Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of Elizinha Goncalves and Walter Moreira Salles, a Brazilian banker and ambassador, and the brother of João Moreira Salles, also a...
, and Ariel Saúl.
The film features Valeria Bertuccelli
Valeria Bertuccelli
Valeria Bertuccelli in is an Argentine film and television actress.Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín and Cervantes theatres...
, Ingrid Rubio
Ingrid Rubio
Ingrid Rubio is one of the top actresses in Spanish language cinema. She won the Special Mention Awad at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival for her performance in the film Taxi....
, among others.
Plot
In 1976, during the political turmoil in Argentina, two sisters flee their country right after Natalia's politically active boyfriend Martin disappeares; one goes to SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and the other to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
After eight years in Spain, Natalia (Ingrid Rubio
Ingrid Rubio
Ingrid Rubio is one of the top actresses in Spanish language cinema. She won the Special Mention Awad at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival for her performance in the film Taxi....
) travels to Texas to visit her sister Elena (Valeria Bertuccelli
Valeria Bertuccelli
Valeria Bertuccelli in is an Argentine film and television actress.Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín and Cervantes theatres...
), who's now a suburban wife and mother.
She brings with her their father's manuscript of his last novel. The unpublished novel reveals the story of their family during the Argentine dictatorship.
Using extensive flashbacks of the sisters early years in Argentina during the junta dictatorship, the director reveals family guilt and suppressed resentment.
Background
The film is based on the real political events that took place in Argentina after Jorge Rafael VidelaJorge Rafael Videla
Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo is a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón...
's reactionary military junta assumed power on March 24, 1976. During the junta's rule: the parliament was suspended, unions, political parties and provincial governments were banned, and in what became known as the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
between 9,000 and 30,000 people deemed left-wing "subversives" disappeared from society.
Cast
- Valeria BertuccelliValeria BertuccelliValeria Bertuccelli in is an Argentine film and television actress.Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín and Cervantes theatres...
as Elena Levín - Ingrid RubioIngrid RubioIngrid Rubio is one of the top actresses in Spanish language cinema. She won the Special Mention Awad at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival for her performance in the film Taxi....
as Natalia Levin - Adrián NavarroAdrián NavarroAdrián Navarro is a film and television actor.He once worked in the cinema of Argentina. He is now Retired from The Industry Residing In Garden Grove, California. Career 1999-2000. Age Now Is 16 years-old-Early life:...
as Sebastián Morini - Nicolás Pauls as Martín García Solís
- Milton De La Canal as Tomás Morini
- Horacio PeñaHoracio PeñaHoracio Peña could refer to multiple people.*Horacio Peña *Horacio Peña - Author and poet from Nicaragua....
as David Levin - Mónica Galán as Marta Levín
- Eusebio Poncela as Luis Morini
- Pedro Balmaceda as Steve
- Gustavo Pastorini as American Tourist
Critical reception
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
liked the film, especially the acting of Valeria Bertuccelli
Valeria Bertuccelli
Valeria Bertuccelli in is an Argentine film and television actress.Born in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, Buenos Aires Province, she began her career in experimental theatre, and later worked in the San Martín and Cervantes theatres...
and Ingrid Rubio
Ingrid Rubio
Ingrid Rubio is one of the top actresses in Spanish language cinema. She won the Special Mention Awad at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival for her performance in the film Taxi....
, and wrote, "Though constrained by a directing style that insists on coloring within the lines, the movie is most successful in the rocky emotional spaces in which the sisters renegotiate their relationship and in which Elena, struggling with English, endures the painful process of assimilation...both actresses make their director look very good indeed."
In the same vein, Jonathan Holland, film critic for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine, appreciated the acting but gave the film a mixed review and wrote, "The political skeleton of 1970's Argentina rolls out of the closet to mostly positive effect in Julia Solomonoff's Sisters, a solidly-built but somewhat airless debut from the assistant director of The Motorcycle Diaries
The Motorcycle Diaries (film)
At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends both the arbitrary boundaries of...
. The complex plot doesn't fully exploit the possibilities for suspense, but first-class perfs, great atmospherics and an upbeat message combine to make the pic work better as a sibling drama than as a thriller."
Critic V.A. Mesetto thought the screenplay was predictable but also likes the acting, and wrote, "Solomonoff draws out vivid performances by Valeria Bertuccelli (Elena) and Ingrid Rubio (Natalia) that make up for the script's predictability."
Film critic Ed Gonzalez wrote, "Solomonoff doesn't strike very interesting contrasts between past and present, but her actresses certainly do: Rubio and Bertucelli express how resentment eats away at their characters' sisterhood so richly that the many flashbacks to Argentina, shot uninterestingly in gritty hand-held gestures, seem almost unnecessary."
Distribution
The film was first presented at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent CinemaBuenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.The festival is managed by the Ministerio de Cultura del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, it is not...
on April 14, 2005. It opened wide in the country on April 28, 2005.
The film was screened at various film festivals, including: the Toronto Film Festival, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, on September 9, 2005; the São Paulo International Film Festival
São Paulo International Film Festival
The São Paulo International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in São Paulo, Brazil since 1976. In 2004 Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was a member of the jury.-International Jury Award:*2001: The New Country ...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
; the Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
; the Bangkok International Film Festival, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
; the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; and others.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
it opened in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on December 6, 2006.
Awards
Nominations- Valladolid International Film Festival: Golden Spike, Julia Solomonoff; 2005.
- Butaca AwardsButaca AwardsThe Butaca Awards are a miscellaneous annual theater and film award ceremony held since 1995 in Barcelona, Catalonia to award those who have made valuable contributions to Catalan theater and cinema....
: Butaca; Best Catalan Film Actress, Ingrid Rubio; 2006. - Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Actress, Valeria Bertuccelli; Best Costume Design, Beatriz De Benedetto and Fátima Macera; 2006.
External links
- Hermanas at the cinenacional.comCinenacional.comCinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...
- Hermanas film review at Leer Cine by Daniela Vilaboa