The Motive, 2017.
Directed by Manuel Martin Cuenca.
Starring Javier Gutierrez, Maria Leon, and Adelfa Calvo.
SYNOPSIS:
A struggling writer starts to manipulate his neighbours in order to generate ideas for a book. But is he really in control?
The Motive is a quiet, studied film about a writer whose imagination becomes entangled with reality. Its economical storytelling creates a ferocious and enticing drama that does not rely on big bangs or spectacle, just a patient violence that lurks beneath each scene. There is not an ounce of fat in this film: it is sharp, lean and tense.
Alvaro – a neurotic and failing writer – starts the film in cluttered spaces. He is swamped by his overrun office, berated by phone calls and smothered by his partner’s success. She has released her first novel to critical acclaim, whilst he is struggling to keep up with his amateur writing class. His prose, like his life, is muddled and meaningless, and after a particularly shoddy attempt, his mentor tells him to change or give up. Writing is about finding the truth, but Alvaro seems too distracted to find it.
The harsh words spark a personal upheaval. He leaves his wife, takes a break from work and buys himself a conspicuously blank apartment. To find the truth he needs to open up to the world around him, and to do that, he must remove all of his excess baggage. There must be a clean passage between his reality and the page, prompting a Hemmingway-inspired session of writing in the nude.
Alvaro’s meek but calculating demeanour is reminiscent of Gert Wiesler in Lives of Others, and like the spy in the 2006 classic, he starts to listen in on other people’s conversations. His new neighbours seem particularly interesting since they all already seem to be set up for a drama: a couple are struggling to pay their rent, the landlord is getting impatient and an old veteran is hoarding cash. Perhaps it is here, in his own apartment, that Alvaro can find the characters for his book.
Yet, whereas Gert would studiously avoid his subjects, Alvaro jumps into their world and stirs the pot. He starts manipulating his neighbours with misinformation and gossip to create a better narrative, priming them for a climatic ending that will establish him as a great author.
Slowly, the audience realise that Alvaro is not interested in capturing the ‘truth’. He is interested in power. In the apartment complex, Alvaro knows he has emotional, sexual and economic control and it is this, not his writing, that pushes him ever further. Rather than fashion his book into the shape of the world, he wants to fashion the world into the shape of his book.
His illusion of being an omniscient and omnipotent narrator is then burst in spectacular fashion. The film’s final twist leaves Alvaro feeling like a character in someone else’s story, raising questions over whether he was ever in control in the first place. This transition is confirmed when the camera starts to look at Alvaro from the neighbour’s perspective, and we realise that we had only seen the world through Alvaro’s window or door.
The film is full of these nice touches. The camera work is carefully curated to give each scene its own texture, reflecting the dynamic of conversation by switching between wide shots and close-ups. The characters reward the camera’s attention with small twitches, grimaces and frowns. Portera, the manager of the apartment complex, gives a particularly intriguing performance that ranges between vulnerability and a cool hardness – a contrast that gets to the heart of the film’s themes.
Most impressively, perhaps, the whole project has been championed by Netflix. The film was given a theatrical release in Spain and Mexico, but it will be seen by a wider audience thanks to its placement on the platform. The fact that the multimillion pound company is prepared to back a foreign language film with no star, no special effects and no obvious dramatic pay-off is a positive sign for the future. In a world full of Avengers sequels, there may still be space for careful, underplayed cinema.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Tom Knight
