POINTS: 6
Spanish production Los exiliados románticos (The Romantic Exiles) is the new film by Jonás Trueba, the son of Oscar winner Fernando Trueba, and his follow-up to Los ilusos (The Wishful Thinkers), and both have so far received a good deal of praise from critics at large and viewers in the art-house circuit.
This time, Trueba focuses once again on the existential dilemmas of a small group of friends reaching their thirties. Vito (Vito Sanz), Luis (Luis E. Parés), and Francesco (Francesco Carril) are three friends who decide to take a trip by van to Paris without having a clear purpose. Actually, they hope to meet the three girls they once had brief, yet intense, love affairs with not that long ago. Call it a journey into the ever surprising realm of feelings and new experiences in matters of the heart and you’d be right.
Trueba himself said that he wanted to make a lightweight piece where the characters and their conversations about love, friendship, the end of youth and life in general would take centre stage. They would be the film itself. That has been achieved. In a naturalistic manner, with a script developed while shooting, these six characters engage into casual verbal exchanges and loosely meditate upon their queries — never in a solemn manner, which is quite welcome.
However, and this may be a personal matter (or not), I was seldom moved or involved into their joys and tribulations. Perhaps my larger appreciation of the work of Richard Linklater and Eric Rohmer isn’t of much help either. But it feels Trueba’s feature is pretty derivative of the imprint found in the films of these two accomplished filmmakers (Rohmer in the first place), but without their often insightful subtext and dramatic richness, and with an off-putting dose of self-indulgence. On the plus side, the comedic edge of Los exiliados románticos is to be celebrated.
Problems arise when for the most part what’s said, and even how it’s said, does not ring as authentic as it’s meant to. These characters are not really having trivial and lightweight conversations, but pretending they are doing so. The same goes for the straight-forward mise-en-scene: it looks as it’s been staged to be merely casual looking. But performances often do make a difference for the better and so half a dozen scenes, or more precisely some tiny moments in those scenes, are effective enough to keep the story moving forward. As for the other half, they are plainly dull and uninteresting.
Los exiliados románticos has plenty of literary references, chiefly to the essay The Little Virtues, by Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg, and oddly enough they don’t sound forced or pretentious. That’s surely because what Ginzburg says in her essay may be said in a plain manner, and nonetheless be filled with substance. Too bad Trueba’s new opus fails to be nearly as substantial or questioning.
Production notes
Los exiliados románticos (Spain, 2015). Written and directed by Jonás Trueba. With Vito Sanz, Francesco Carril, Luis E. Pares, Renata Antonante, Isabelle Stoffel, Miren Iza. Cinematography: Santiago Racaj. Editing: Marta Velasco. Running time: 70 minutes.
@pablsuarez
