ERENDIRA Movie Review

When her house burns down as the result of a mysterious fire, an old woman (Irene Papas) decides that the otherworldly vision reported by her exquisite granddaughter, Erendira (Claudia Ohana), is the cause. Immediately and unforgivingly holding the teenager responsible, the old woman decides that the only way for the girl to pay for the damage she has caused is through prostitution. Director Ruy Guerra sends the pair off into a mystical, surreal, richly colored desert setting, where their adventures take the strange and haunting twists and turns one would expect from the movie's screenwriter, Gabriel García Márquez. Erendira rambles along entertainingly enough, though it always feels a bit schematic and rarely attains the startling narrative magic that this kind of fantasy calls for. The picture looks great, though, and Irene Papas is formidable, frightening, and altogether irresistible.

NEXT STOP … Quilombo, The Gods and the Dead, The Milky Way

1983 103m/C FR MX GE Sergio Calderon, Blanca Guerra, Ernesto Cruz, Michel Lonsdale, Pierre Vaneck, Irene Papas, Claudia Ohana, Michael Lonsdale, Rufus, Jorge Fegan; D: Ruy Guerra; W: Gabriel Garcia Marquez; C: Denys Clerval; M: Maurice Lecouer. VHS XVC