Rent La Ciénaga (2001)
3.4 of 5 from 82 ratings
1h 36min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Mecha (Graciela Borges), the family matriarch, lives in a dilapidated country retreat near La Cienaga (the Swamp) with her husband Gregorio (Martin Adjemian) and her teenage children. The humidity is stifling and the only leisure the adults can think of is to drink - constantly. One drinking session by the pool leads to a trip to the hospital, leaving the children - with no adult supervision - to their own devices; sunbathing, hunting, dancing, driving illegally and diving in the stagnant pool. The only adults who seem to care at all are the Indian servants who are constantly being harassed by Mecha for allegedly stealing towels. What unfolds is a subtle and sly look at intimacies of a midldle class family in crisis, with Mattel's microscope artfully observing the infidelities, alliances, prejudices and secret infatuations. - Actors:
- Mercedes Morán, Graciela Borges, Martín Adjemián, Leonora Balcarce, Silvia Baylé, Sofia Bertolotto, Juan Cruz Bordeu, Noelia Bravo Herrera, Maria Micol Ellero, Andrea López, Sebastián Montagna, Daniel Valenzuela, Franco Veneranda, Fabio Villafane, Diego Baenas
- Directors:
- Lucrecia Martel
- Producers:
- Lita Stantic
- Writers:
- Lucrecia Martel
- Aka:
- The Swamp
- Studio:
- ICA
- Genres:
- Comedy, Drama
- Collections:
- New waves of Latin American Cinema, What to watch by country
- Countries:
- Argentina
- Awards:
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Reviews (1) of La Ciénaga
Languid Mess of Bodies, Booze and Blood - La Ciénaga review by griggs
You’re thrown in at the deep end with La Ciénaga—no setup, no backstory, just a languid mess of bodies, booze and blood. It’s like turning up late to a family gathering where everyone’s had one too many, and the air’s thick with old grudges and heatstroke. The camera drifts through this bourgeois purgatory, where everyone’s either injured or on their way to being so. Cuts, bruises, mysterious ailments—half the film feels like a waiting room montage, and the Virgin Mary pops up just often enough to make you think someone might be praying for an escape. It’s disorientating initially, but the more you piece it together, the more hypnotic it becomes. Everyone’s wilting, physically and emotionally, and no one seems capable of stepping in to help. The real scar tissue isn’t what’s visible—it’s the slow rot in the family itself. A challenging watch but a quietly brilliant one.
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