El Planeta is the debut feature film of Spanish artist, and now also film director, Amalia Ulman. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film festival to an enthusiastic audience. Ulman is the director, writer, producer, and star of the film. Her own mother, Ale Ulman, is also in the film, making her very promising acting debut playing her mother. Set in the sleepy coastal city of Gijón, Asturias, in recession-hit Spain post the 2008 crash, the drama portrays mother-daughter grifters María and Leonor, who despite having no income or savings, bluff and scam their way through life to enjoy life’s material luxuries, running up tabs in local businesses that they have no means of paying. Always well-dressed, sporting fur coats and designer handbags, they ricochet from one dodgy chaotic situation to another – having no regard for the potential consequences of their behavior. They have a sense of entitlement to life’s luxuries, are good at acquiring them, and have no intention of working legitimately for them. This is maybe a comment on some of today’s Instagram generation. There are also underlying themes of contemporary femininity in the film – touching on appearance, relationships, etc – echoing Ulman’s work as an artist.
Ulman says the film draws from her family’s own financial stress in a post-crisis Spain, when she and her mother lost their home – and also from the true story of a pair of penniless mother-daughter con artists who ran up tabs in the thousands that they promised to settle at local businesses but, of course, never could. This personal experience, plus the fact that Ulman and her real-life mother play the main parts in the film, makes the film very believable. Both Ulmans portray their melancholic, slightly flippant, characters very well with excellent chemistry between mother and daughter. The plot is actually quite thin, however accurately mirrors the dull lives that would be led in a recession-hit coastal town full of boarded-up shops and no opportunity.
Ulman’s background as an artist shines through in the film’s beautifully art-directed black and white cinematography. Scene after scene look like well-shot editorial from a glossy magazine. This is an impressive debut and it would be interesting to see what Ulman could come up with if she had a larger budget to play with. She’s definitely a new cinematic voice to watch.
Review: Ris Fatah Queerguru’s newest contributor (when he can be bothered) is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
