Enjoyable from beginning to end.
The technical side of this film is so good that you forget there is a camera between you and the actors.
Photography, lighting, sound: Sheer perfection.
Not to mention the acting: These actors could have been directed by Ingmar Bergman. Marcos Carnevale was the director, as good as the Swedish Master.
Graciela Borges (Elena in the film) was extraordinary as usual. And she looks incredibly young and beautiful besides being such a proficient actress.
Rita Cortesse (Esther) A winner hands down. What an actress! I will always remember her marvelous film "Herencia" -2001.
Valeria Bertuccelli: Perfect casting. Very good actress.
Martin Bossi: (Justina in the film) this one could be the Achilles heel in this film. Why? Although his performance is flawless, it was disorienting (to me at least) not to understand his character looks from the very beginning: Nowadays there are so many shades of genres that they blend all together in blurry confusion; could he/she has been a Trans in transition? has he transitioned already? is he just gay? is he a heterosexual man that enjoys dressing up in women's clothes?
We'll never know.
He plays his character too stiff and almost with fear of being booed by the audience, so one sees all the time a man slightly modified with a miniskirt and a pony tail.
The story is very interesting, being a love triangle, they never fail to grab you till the bitter end: Who wins, the wife or the lover? Since even IMDb blows the core of this story without the ubiquitous "spoilers ahead" I assume I won't have any problems talking openly about it.
The script is terribly astute and subtle in offering us in small doses the imperceptible changes both women go through in confronting each other under the shadow of the dead husband/lover, traitor in life to both of them. "Widow", singular, "Widows", plural. Clever manipulation for the title, indeed!
Meanwhile Esther, Elena's best friend, sees it all (and so does Justina, the Paraguayan maid, working at Elena's home for the last 14 years, and knowing her better that Elena herself. When at the phone, gossiping with a friend, Elena enters and Justina immediately changes from Spanish to Guarani, so Elena won't understand - -by the way, Guaraní is one of the most beautiful and melodious languages on earth-- unfortunately going head on to extinction (caution: I'm NOT Paraguayan).
If you are not fully grown up, please, stay away as far as you can from this film as from the Black Plague; it's subject matter, black humor and subtle feelings, all exceed your understanding.
I must say that the very end of this film, corny (according to another reviewer) or not, is masterful, it's so sublime that instantly will melt your heart. The beginning of a beautiful, understanding and rock solid friendship. It reminded me of "Les parapluies de Cherbourg".
Summing it up: Go and see it.
