The Whore and the Whale on DVD, Drama, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

A Spanish writer finds an old coffer with photographs of an Argentine man who fought and died in the Spanish Civil War, and of a woman. Her quest for answers brings Vera to the Argentine Patagonia.

STARS: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Pep Munné

120 min | Drama | 2004 | Color

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Devastating to watch

"Shattering" is about the only word that can do justice to this movie. A knockout performance from Aitana Sanchez-Gijon as a writer suffering from breast cancer who discovers letters from a photographer killed during the Spanish Civil War, who relates the story of his betrayal of the woman who loved him. The writer, recovering from a mastectomy, goes from Madrid to Argentina and traces the path that the two lovers took in 1934, when the photographer sold his lover into a brothel and subsequently tried to buy her back. The two stories - the writer trying to come to terms with her cancer, and the young woman unaware of the fate that awaits her, keep you on the edge of your seat as the dual stories unfold. The anger and bitterness of the writer at her own fate recedes as she becomes totally immersed in the fate of the other woman. A great deal of the action takes place on the Patagonian coast, where the whales come from nowhere and vanish back into the far beyond. As an expression of the mystery of existence this movie is absolutely shattering. Time and place cross so that you find the two stories converging in a way that is mesmerizing. A heart-stopping ending that will etch itself on your memory. This is movie-making of a first class order. Kudos to everyone, actors, director and writer for a wholly original experience. Do anything you can to get your hands on this movie.

I'm free because I was born that way

One of the beauties of this film is that it is shot in a location completely different to North America. The colours and contours of South America are an extraordinary backdrop to this meditative film on what it means to be a truly free spirit. What happens to such a person if they are betrayed, in the one case by a lover and in the other case, by an illness.
A novelist, goes on an assignment to write about certain photographs from the 1930's and through a mixture of fortune and persistence comes across a tangled tale of love and betrayal from that turbulent era. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón very convincingly plays the novelist who discovers she has cancer whilst on her assignment. Gradually, through her own pain and despair, she learns the truth about La Puta, the Whore, ably depicted by Mercè Llorens. The 1930's in a remote part of Patagonia, is recreated in a way that gradually illustrates the danger that lurks in the extraordinary dance, the Argentine Tango.
This is not a perfect film but it is powerful and well worth watching. The themes of being stranded, the nature of freedom and love, weave throughout this nicely nuanced drama. "I'm not free because they let me go; I'm free because I was born that way" is one of the more powerful quotes in the film.