This movie was both a visual and an auditory delight. Family interruptions meant it took me three days to complete it, but I couldn't help but come back to it and I honestly can't wait to read the book (does anyone have it?!)
There is something slow and simple here that invites you to wander around Uruguay and really fall in love with the people. Not because they are dazzling, extraordinary, or seductive, but because they are people living their lives in the way they chose. The intriguing thing about the characters is they know they are odd (or believe themselves to be.) How many wives allow their husband's mistress to come home and live with them like a "stray, pregnant kitty"? How many homosexual men have an openly dedicated and loving relationship for 25 years when the lovers are decades apart in age? They are languishing after the suicide of husband and brother, Jules Gund. Almost as if they are afraid to leave their haven where they live without judgement from each other until a doctoral student comes begging to write the biography. What sort of indignation will they receive from the world? Possibly less than they are giving themselves living in such close quarters with each other.
Omar shakes things up in his own quiet way. His curiosity for the author becomes an admiration for his loved ones and his life is forever changed by his visit to Uruguay. Living his well-planned out, conventional life -- without passion for the woman he lives with or the career he pursues becomes a terribly bleak prospect in comparison to the Gund's.
Oh! And the soundtrack...gentle, bittersweet...loved it.
I need to see this.
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