Gloria, 2013.
Directed by Sebastián Lelio.
Starring Paulina Garcia, Sergio Hernández, Diego Fontecilla and Fabiola Zamora.
SYNOPSIS:
A story set in Santiago and centered on Gloria, a free-spirited older woman, and the realities of her whirlwind relationship with a former naval officer whom she meets out in the clubs.
A lot of geriatricomedies – so-called ‘comedies’ about the older generation hilariously placed in an incongruous setting – coming out of Hollywood seek to win your laughter by mocking the elderly. Look, it’s John Malkovich and Helen Mirren using heavy weaponry! And look, it’s Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman getting wasted in Vegas! While clearly a formula aching with hilarity, Gloria breaks from that tradition by showing the older generation living their lives the way the actual older generation might. While it’s not quite as exciting as the dunderheaded RED franchise or as star-studded as the recent Last Vegas, Gloria refreshingly takes the geriatricomedy and brings some reality to that generation on film.
To clear things up: Gloria is not a great film, but is entertaining, and deserves to be watched just for its twin acts of defiance. For one, this is a comedy drama staunchly about the 50-plus generation, aimed primarily at that market. In several scenes, the rippling naked bodies of divorcees Gloria and Rodolfo twist in ecstasy; it’s not something that any romantic comedy made in Hollywood would ever, ever dare show, unless it was intended for comic effect.
Nor would said Hollywood rom-com have the same concerns as Sebastian Lelio’s film. Gloria has mortality on its mind, with an underlying tragedy relating to the inexorable passage of time (Gloria’s children have flown the nest and started lives of their own, leaving Gloria inessential and ignored). It suggests loneliness is one of the inevitabilities of old age, especially for divorcees.
Gloria is just a more honest film than the rom-com format is used to. And, as cinema has proven time and time again, romance transcends age, race, sexuality – everything. If the lovers in the film were 19 or 90 it wouldn’t matter; Gloria could successfully appeal to all. It may mostly ponder matters most pondered by its target audience, but Gloria ultimately wants to entertain.
The film’s protagonists are comfortably affluent, so it isn’t entirely dissimilar from a Hollywood rom-com. The comedy isn’t always enormously sophisticated either, though Gloria’s constant run-ins with her neighbour’s despised sphinx cat raise a chuckle or two. But most of all, the film should just be seen for Paulina Garcia’s performance in the title role.
The film around Garcia is often light – essentially it’s girl meets boy stuff, leading up to our lead ‘discovering’ herself – but she brings a gravitas that leads you to wonder why you’ve never heard of her before. It’s a bold undertaking, for a woman to win her first major lead role in a movie aged 52 and make the character believably sexy, sad and mischievous; Garcia surprises with just a look. And when Gloria defiantly dances by herself at the close, even if it’s a tad too sickly sweet, it’s Garcia bringing dignity back to a generation so often marginalised and mocked by the mainstream.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published November 16, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
