A Woman Called Maysabel (2021)

A woman named Maishabel is a portrait of an era, a collective drama and its two main characters, standing on opposite sides of a barricade that will soon collapse. A hymn to an understanding that does not erase the past, but makes it more malleable and accessible, from a director like Iciar Bollen, who never loses sight of his personal, discreet yet always present look.

Understanding inside and out

Toulouse, July 29, 2000: ETA commandos kill Juan Maria Jauregui, former governor of Gipuzkoa and a prominent representative of the socialist party. The two perpetrators of the attack were arrested and sentenced in 2004 to 39 years in prison. 2014: One of the two arrested, Ibon Echezarreta, requests a meeting with the victim’s widow, Maishabel Lasa, who has been doing important work for many years to commemorate all victims of terrorism. The woman, with many reservations and against the opinion of her family, agrees to the meeting.

This is a simple yet powerful film about humanity. A woman named Maysabel, a chronicle of reflections on the past and, above all, attempts at dialogue, an apologist for the need for a meeting that never turns into an uncritical denial of differences. what from Isiar Bollen, an eclectic director but always with her own eye, is a film that effectively combines what was once called “personal” and “political”, showing how the two elements deeply influence each other, positively and (unfortunately) ) is often negative. . It is an influence that has separately marked both the life of Myxabelle and the life of Ibon, two mirror paths, two characters who have unconsciously searched for each other for years. (Not) aware of the need for each other.

Necessary, double view

He offers a tough look at the lives he tells A woman named Maysabel, no discounts, but never judgmental. A look that tries to understand reality, starting from its human side, from the lives of men and women who, on both sides of the fence, were touched by one of the longest and most tragic periods in the history of Spain. Iciar Bollen’s film does not mention the crime that caused all this, but it does not need to explicitly show the act of taking life: this passage just before the two shots is enough, then the excited escape – staged with a nervous and naturalistic cut – and the subsequent jubilation, which is already looks almost like a cry of anguish. “We should have rejoiced, because to stop and think meant the risk of going crazy”, says the character, masterfully played by Luis Tosar, to Blanca Portillo’s equally intense Maichabel, speaking of reflection and critique that, more than action, looks inward at the reasons for choice. A revision that affects not only the character of Ibon, but also, above all, Maixabel, who understands that he needs this terrible confrontation: because to give the executioner a face, a voice and, above all, humanity means returning him to a more manageable, more malleable dimension : it means a direct confrontation with the cause of the evil that has gripped you for so many years, and a conscious decision how to relate to it. Maishabelle decides to pardon, and not just because the same victim (who in turn was an ETA fighter but fled shortly after) would have done the same; but because it is the best thing for her. And she does it so deeply that even the woman herself decides to comprehend through dialogue with those who have taken so much from her.

The Importance of Appearance

The stage chosen by the director to stage the story A woman named Maysabel only superficially simple and impersonal: the direction, instead of stepping aside, hides behind the dialogues and faces of the two main characters (to which we would add the companion of Ibon, played by Urco Olazábal, and, above all, the daughter of the woman whom she gives the face mournful Maria Cerezuela) avoids virtuosity, but is full of a personal eye for detail. Sudden cuts in the cut, some sonic explosions – the work on this sector is also wonderful – reminds us of the brutality of the experience; and then this sequence showing Ibon in the car and the resounding reenactment of his actions, which thus became almost more alive than they would have been if told with clear recollection. And then, first of all, the faces peering intently, in a constant search for that mutual understanding, which is slowly and not without difficulty, finally being realized. It has a long preparatory part, A woman named Maysabel, which follows the events of the two main characters in parallel: carefully examines their evolution, gives an account of their respective consciousness. It remains secondary to a complex political story that cannot be liquidated in a two-hour film, a practice that can be misleading; in fact, the director shows an interest, first of all, in who on this page of the story was the main character, direct or indirect, for example, family members of both parties. To those who have been destabilized by this and are looking for a new stability that takes into account the pain on the one hand, and the weight of actions (and choices) on the other.

“Rich” simplicity

It is this conceptual simplicity (the story of the meeting of two people), combined with the high density of the story and the intensity of its staging, that constitutes the main value of the work. A woman named Maysabel; a work that, fortunately, defies either the traps of thesis cinema or overtly overt emotionality that would distort its intentions. On the contrary, Iciar Bolline’s film remains austere, keeping under control the most problematic elements (such as the soundtrack) and restoring a political portrait that gradually becomes psychological and, above all, human. A clear emotion appears only in the last episode, with a play of glances opposed to the notes of a collective song in which everything is said about individual characters, their respective positions, mutual proximity or distance: for understanding is possible, but erasure of the past never. Saying it so implicitly yet so effectively, in a film that makes simplicity its key feature and, of course, no small feat.

poster

Gallery

Form

Original name: Mayxabel
Director: Isiar Bolline
Country/year: Spain / 2021
Duration: 115′
Type: Drama, Crime, Thriller
Throw: Arancha Aranguren, Luis Tosar, Arkaitz Hartziandia, Asier Ormaza, Blanca Portillo, Bruno Sevilla, Felix Arcarazo, Minges Hill, Suasua Hill, Ibon Belandia, Iñigo Larrinaga, Josu Ormatxe, Marxelo Rubio, Maria Cerezuela, Maria Jesus Hoyos, Miguel Garces, Miquel Bustamante, Patcho Telleria, Tamara Canosa, Urco Olazabal
Screenplay: Iciar Bolline, Isa Campo
Photo: Javier Aguirre
Assembly: Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Music: Alberto Iglesias
Director: Juan Moreno, Guillermo Sempere, Koldo Zuazua
Production house: Movistar+, Kowalski Films, Euskal Irrati Telebista (EiTB), Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Crea SGR, Maixabel Film, Feelgood Media
Distribution: Films inspired by

Release date: 07/13/2023

Trailer

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