Self-assured, mysterious, and captivating Linda (China Suárez) agrees to work at an affluent home in Buenos Aires, covering for her cousin who’s recovering from an accident. Her charm sparks strong sexual attraction among all four members of the family, exposing how fragile their externally happy veneer really is.
For her feature-length debut, Argentinian writer-director Mariana Wainstein (whose credits include TV series such as Community Squad) turns the South American story of the mythical Deceased Correa upside down with compelling results. Legend has it that Deolinda Correa died crossing the desert, baby in tow, in search of her husband who was recruited by force to join the civil war. When some horsemen found her body days later, her baby was still alive, feeding miraculously from her breast. Today, thousands of visitors from across Latin America visit the shrine built in her honour in the town of Vallecito hoping for a miracle of their own.
Turning away from grand gestures, the narrative drills on the mundane to explore Linda’s shattering of the male egos involved — all the advances by the men are almost cruelly curtailed — as well as the power dynamic between the female employer and the “help.” Focussing on female desire instead of sacrifice inverts the myth in a way that is deeply rewarding and a joy to watch.
The Gateway is an American crime thriller film directed by Michele Civetta and starring Shea Whigham, Olivia Munn, Zach Avery, Bruce Dern, Frank Grillo, Keith David, Taryn Manning, Mark Boone Junior, Jessica Medina, Taegen Burns, Jay Hieron and Alexander Wraith. The screenplay was written by Diego Bliffeld, Sabrina Campos, and Luciano Cocciardi.
Linda is an Argentinian Spanish drama film directed by Mariana Wainstein and starring China Suárez, Julieta Cardinali, Minerva Casero, Agustín Della Corte, Felipe Gonzalez Otaño and Rafael Spregelburd. The screenplay, written by Alexander Felix and originally titled Where Angels Die, was included in the 2013 Black List.
Film Review for Linda
An enigmatic outsider enters the home of a bourgeois family, with each person feeling irresistibly and sexually drawn toward the guest: this is not Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema — or perhaps Bruce LaBruce’s The Visitor — but instead Mariana Wainstein’s debut feature Linda. The film is premised on the same idea but is considerably tamer — not to mention how it avoids the flashy, blunt attempts at class satire of the somewhat similar Saltburn [+] — instead leaving us to linger in family dynamics. Linda world-premiered in Toronto’s Discovery strand and attributes its screenplay to seven writers including Wainstein.
With flowing hair, dark features and all the makings of what the male gaze would perceive as a femme fatale, the effortlessly compelling and aptly named Linda (Eugenia “China” Suárez) takes up, in her cousin’s absence, a job as a domestic worker for a very wealthy Argentine family (case in point: the family canonically knows Colin Farrell). Both parents, Luisa (Julieta Cardinali) and Camilo (Rafael Spregelburd), and their teenage children, Matilda (Minerva Casero) and Ceferino (Felipe Otaño), are quickly smitten with her, primarily from a physical perspective.
We know just slightly more about the eponymous guest than we do about Pasolini’s visitor — she has a young daughter in her hometown of San Juan — but an alluded-to divine force is also as play in Wainstein’s film. In fact, Linda isn’t just “Linda” at all — her name derives from that of the Argentine folk Catholic legend Deolinda Correa, who is said to have been giving life even in death, as she was found dead with her baby miraculously still feeding from her full breast. While the family perceives her as simply mysterious eye candy, Linda’s self-perception is entirely different, even though she is aware that her appearance attracts unwanted attention.
Sexual desire permeates the household as Linda navigates the space day by day, demonstrating her disdain — primarily toward Camilo and Ceferino — but also indulging herself through the power the family grants her through their lust. However, what could be a considerably spicier cautionary tale interrogating desire, heteronormativity and entangled class power dynamics becomes more of a straightforward lesson to simply be respectful toward other people, especially when in positions of power. Linda engages in far less narrative risk-taking than it promises: we are left to fill in the gaps with bits and pieces of desire onscreen — sniffing perfume sprayed on a neck, a hand on a shoulder — shown especially between Linda and the female characters who, ultimately, treat her with more grace.
Wainstein, with beautiful camerawork by DoP Marcos Hastrup, makes crystal clear the distinctions between our protagonist’s desire and the lustful attitudes projected upon her, gently reflecting her perspective. Linda is either intimately invested, as shown through intimate close-ups, or otherwise visually and emotionally distanced from those with whom she wishes no proximity. She departs just as quickly as she’d arrived, leaving no (visible) trail in her wake other than memories — Wainstein leaves the mystery of what might happen next up to the viewer.
Directed by: Mariana Wainstein
Starring: Eugenia China Suárez, Julieta Cardinali, Minerva Casero, Agustín Della Corte, Felipe Gonzalez Otaño, Rafael Spregelburd
Screenplay by: Diego Bliffeld, Sabrina Campos, Luciano Cocciardi
Production Design by: Gustavo Lugones
Film Editing by: Miguel Colombo, Mariana Duran
Music by: Manu Moreno
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Star Distribution (Argentina)
Release Date: September 19, 2024 (Argentina, Uruguay)
Linda, Linda 2024, Eugenia China Suárez, Julieta Cardinali, Minerva Casero, Agustín Della Corte, Felipe Gonzalez Otaño, Rafael Spregelburd, Mariana Wainstein
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