Elisa, mein Leben

(1977) Elise, My Life/ Elisa, vida mía (In Spanish with English subtitles) PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA/ ART HOUSE

Written and directed by Carlos Saura that has adult sisters Elise (Geraldine Chaplin) and Isabel (Isabel Mestres) along with her husband, Julián (Joaquin Hinojosa) and their two children Jacobo and Arantxa arriving to visit their father, Luis (Fernando Rey) to celebrate his birthday at his isolated cottage. And while both Julián and his wife, Isabel need to go back to the city the following day for the purpose of work, Elise decides to stay behind and spend time with her father. And at this point, we find out more about Elise and her relationship with her current husband, Antonio (Norman Briski) to which she found out he was cheating on her with her best friend, Sofia. One of the reasons, she is not too keen on returning. We also see, what Luis does whenever he does go back to the city which is to teach a group of young school girls at a religious nursery. This time he takes his daughter with him as they are rehearsing a play.

The first time I saw this film on TCM, I was baffled that I dozed off a little as a result of so much dialogue. But after the second attempt, it is up for interpretation as viewers are unable to determine what is true and what isn't. This is the seventh of nine movies Geraldine Chaplin collaborated with writer/ director Carlos Saura.