Estiu 1993 (review) — the Catalan movie that is not only Catalan
(Source: Wiki)
Summer 1993 (Original title: Estiu 1993) is a 2017 Catalan-language Spanish drama film directed and written by Carla Simón. The film premiered in the Generation section at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the GWFF Best First Feature Award. It was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
I love Estiu 1993. 10/10 kind of love. Alex mentioned in class that this movie is really slow and we might not be used to this, however I find myself enjoying movies with a languid pace — they say that we watch movies to escape real life, and to me real life is too hectic and out of control, that it is nice to once in a while have someone else set the pace for us, give us space and time to enjoy tiny details (including emotional) of everyday moments. Estiu 1993 reminds me of another American movie called “Paterson”, I really recommend this if your viewpoint on movie pace is the same as mine.
Frida’s character is exceptionally hard to capture in my opinion. As Moncho is, both kids’ expressions are not easy to read as we have no idea what exactly is going on in their head, but to me the similarities stop there. Moncho is growing up and experiencing new things, so his thoughts might be more fluid, like a river streaming from a hill, but Frida is going through an emotional turmoil, her life is completely uprooted, she is cocooning up all her wild feelings, supressing and compartamentalizing, there are so many fine moments and Laia has gotten them down like art.
I feel like Frida is terrified of the new definition of limits. Her closest people in life are all gone, she lost all security and love that used to wrap her up like a blanket, she is extremely exposed to a strange world and she is delicate, trying to arm herself but does not know how to. She wants to feel safe and loved again, but she does not know how exactly she is integrated in Esteve’s family’s life, she feels like there is a limit of emotional support she is only able to get yet she has no idea where the boundaries are, so in her own way, she does things that seem over-the-top and out-limited, that may appear unacceptable, but it is because she is so emotionally draughted and yearning so much that she is testing the limits with more extreme means.
Frida would call Esteve and Marga dad and mum under extreme circumstances, to get more attention and try to make herself seem lovable. She knows actually what cards she has and she plays them well to desperately gain her sense of security back. I can see how Esteve so wanting to make Frida happy and accepted as his own child (maybe because he was close with Neus), but what is more astonishing to me is Marga — this kid is by no means her blood but she is still trying so hard to accept her, to make space for Frida even though she already has Anna, she has such a big heart and is so genuinely trying to make Frida’s life as normal as possible as well as establishing her as Frida’s support/moulder. There are so many little moments that are delicate and moving (and which I think a female director can express far more precisely than male ones) I do not know where to start, and Frida must have gradually sensed this, because in the end when she is trying to run away, she left the Barbie “from my mum” to Anna — with this gesture I do not think she really meant to go back to Barcelona, but testing Esteve and Marga to see whether they would come after her and whether she has a permanent space in the family. Only after she got her confirmation did Frida start to let down her mental defences, to stop suppressing the feelings she temporarily locked away so she would not break down in an unfamiliar environment, to subconsciously starting to feel again — it is a long gradual process — and that is why I think she eventually broke down in the end.
