Eréndira (1983)

reviewed by
Pedro Sena


FILM TITLE:                 ERENDIRA
DIRECTOR:                 RUY GUERRA
COUNTRY:                  MEXICO 1983
MUSIC:                        MAURICE LECOEUR
CAST:                          Irene Pappas, Claudia Ohana, Michael
Lonsdale, Oliver Wehe, Rufus, Blanca Guerra
SUPER FEATURES: Film from the weird film series.
         !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Erendira is not a bad film. But it does show that the Mexican community has a knack for doing something strange, or weird, or just plain bad. This film fits into the area of the Jodorowsky material, or some of the very odd things that get made. It isn't a great film, but it is rather unusually written with its many biblical references, and an undertone that one has a hard time deciding if it is worth laughing, or crying.

But it does try to do something with its material, and one wonders if it is Irene Pappas that tries to save, what would otherwise be a bad film. It comes off, as a colorfully bad Luis Bunuel film, with the themes right in front of us, but we never see them.

It is the story, based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel, of a young woman who is kept by her mother, and is forced into prostitution to pay for everything that the girl has ever done wrong, as a way to pay her debt to the mother. But as is often the case, the young girl does get attached to one young man, and an impossible situation arises. She can't pay her debts, and the mother does not wish the daughter to leave, or she would be all alone in the "desert" which is where most of the film takes place. But the daughter has her clumsy moments, and these are the excuse that keeps her trapped.

In between, is a bunch of stuff that makes little sense, it seems, as the mother goes into a trance like state during her sleep, and tells many stories that range from the weird to the very strange. One thing is obvious, they are some of the things that went through her mind when she was a young girl, and also forced into prostitution. A daydream coming alive. The young girl thinks that the mother is losing it, which she is.

And to save their love affair, the young one decides the young man has to do a deed for her, and this deed, is unfortunately what is also going to get her cursed into becoming exactly what her mother was. In the end, nothing has changed it seems..... in between, there are these rather amusing, and gypsy like settings in the beach and the desert which keeps our attention on what is going on, which is not much, but makes us wonder.

Irene Pappas is not bad, although the way many film makers have used her, has not made her look attractive, or strong as an actress. This film has enough dialogue for her, but it is one of those situations where it is really hard to figure out whether she is helping the whole project or not. I venture to say that she makes it better, but that may not be the case.

A strange film, well photographed, very colorful, but otherwise dull.

3 GIBLOONS Copyright (c) Pedro Sena 1996. All Rights Reserved. Member of the Internet Movie Critics Association


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