Invisible - Venice Film Review

In the Director’s statement (inside the Venice Film Festival Catalogue), Pablo Giorgelli stated that he always interested in a lonesomeness of people. That there is more to that than just a silent exterior. His movie ‘Invisible’ delivers simply that, and more.

Ely (Mora Arenillas) is a young Argentinian teenager whose life is nothing but a restless routine. After school, Ely go home to her mother, sometimes working in a pet shop/clinic. For many of us in other part of the world, this routine can be cool activities to have everyday. But in Ely's life, it doesn't feel that way at all.

Since the beginning we see Ely in the class, sitting and maybe, listening to one-way speech from the teacher. Walking on the way back home, Ely call her boyfriend, then she goes directly to her mother's room -where she always seem to fall asleep already-, which very easy to follow since that is where the sound of TV comes from in such silence environment. She works in a pet shop and help to make little bags of dog food, gives them a bath, all the simple but unavoidable chores. And sometimes, she has sex with the owner's son, whose a married man.

She is not a trouble maker, but she is disconnected from her own life. In the class, no matter how intense she looks with her notes, she is floating, her mind is somewhere else. At home, she open the door, get in, turn off the TV, take off her sweatshirt and sleep on the coach. Her silent and kept-to-her-self attitude shows clearly in the pet shop where she humbly follow any instructions given to her and did her tasks well. With the married man, she barely enjoy the sex, and maybe that is why she doesn't seem to care when one time she saw him with his wife and kids.

This one man narrative form of style is not a new thing in filmmaking, in storytelling, but Giorgelli work delicately with the production design, so nothing is just plain sitting there, everything is something. His frames, production design, camera works and editing, to show a world where everything is invisible but Ely.

And what Ely has to say now?

Ely learn that she is pregnant. She instantly decided to not having the baby and reach out to his friend to find out how to get an abortion. Since abortion is illegal in Argentina, Ely try to get some drugs but has no prescription. Both of them are clueless about what to do. Ely talk to her married-man, meet a woman who can help her do the abortion, with a fee. She follows through calmly and with a bundle of money given to her just before she get it done, she was told, "In 2 hours maximum, it will be done. You will be okay'.

The camera follow Ely's face closely in almost every scene, so close we can see her pure expression, which mostly nothing. She just follow through whatever life throws at her. Her walks going to school, back home, to the clinic, back home again, everything is serve with a controlled camera works, where nothing is significant, but Ely.

It takes a while to realised that the universe Ely lives in, - home, school, pet shop, - and the people around her, are all invisible. Teacher in class is one-way teaching and never visible to the camera, friends that either away or just don't exist, TV with all the bad news. The closest people are her mother -who she has love and hate relationship-, her boyfriend -who grabs his cell phone the second they are done having sex-, and her married-man -who waits in the car when she is having an abortion-.

Sound of opening and closing the door home becomes very loud and a window separating her from other teenagers playing basketball makes it clear, Ely is not belong to where she is. One time she shout out to her mother, ask her to start get out of the house and work, because she is tired. This is the first and only time Ely show her own despair to her mom. And yet, it ended up to nothing as her mom still sleeping all day, leave her facing life alone.

There are some scenes undeniably humble and human, the first times Ely's showing her other inner voice without even saying a word. One is when she walks the injured dog around, and the other one is when she was laying down to get an abortion. No one really know what she has in mind, but it definitely is loud and everyone is with Ely.

One of the most beautiful scene in the movie is when she gets home from the abortion place, walking as usual, and talk on the phone, shed tears and her voice are broken but still managed to sound okay. And then she open the door, walk directly to the couch without taking of her jacket, lay her self down on the couch, sitting while catching her breath for a while. For once she just focus on herself and reacting to her own universe. For once it is not just about the abortion and how miserable life is in the steps of a young woman. For once we hear Ely, and her catching breaths are the words that has been long-held inside, the sound that has been resided in Ely, the sound of a loud and restless mind. And by the end of the movie, when it's fade out, only black screen for a couple seconds. What a world Ely has to walk on, but one shall feel that she will be okay.

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Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, France / 87’
language Spanish
cast Mora Arenillas, Mara Bestelli, Diego Cremonesi, Paula Fernández Mbarak, Jorge Waldhorn
screenplay Pablo Giorgelli, María Laura Gargarella
cinematographer Diego Poleri
editor María Astrauskas
production designer Ailí Chen
costume designer Laura Donari
music Pedro Onetto
sound Edson Secco, Martín Litmanovich

Pictures and more info:
http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2017/program-cinema-2017/pablo-giorgelli-invisible