FILMS/
MATAHARIS
World Cinema
Spain, 2007, 95 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sat, Apr 26 / 4:00 / Kabuki / MATA26K
Mon, Apr 28 / 7:15 / Kabuki / MATA28K
Wed, Apr 30 / 9:00 / Kabuki / MATA30K
Fri, May 2 / 1:15 / Clay / MATA02Y
CREDITS
- dir
-
Icíar Bollaín
- prod
-
Santiago García de Leániz, Simón de Santiago
- scr
-
Icíar Bollaín, Tatiana Rodríguez
- cam
-
Kiko de la Rica
- editor
-
Ángel Hernández Zoido
- mus
-
Lucio Godoy
- cast
-
Najwa Nimri, Tristán Ulloa, María Vázquez, Diego Martín, Nuria González, Antonio de la Torre
- source
-
Sogepaq Internacional, Edificio Mirasierra Avda. Labradores, 1 - 2ª plta., 28760 Tres Cantos, Spain. FAX: +34 91 736 89 91. EMAIL: sogepaqfestivals@Sogecable.com
Far from being a melodrama of spies, gunplay and intrigue, Mataharis explores relationships and ethics in the daily life of working women. The title’s implied irony—that women are employed as detectives not because they are tough and resourceful like Philip Marlowe but rather because they are seductive and deceitful like Mata Hari—is only the first of the complexities of this engrossing drama. The story’s private investigators are used by their agency to infiltrate in ways that men can’t. The mercurial Eva’s (Najwa Nimri) own baby provides cover as she spies on people. Inés’s (María Vázquez) boss introduces her to a client as, “One of our best agents: Pretty, and she has a degree.” She is sent to pose as a janitor at a multinational company where she is dismissed by most as harmless and thus able to overhear compromising conversations and dig around in the trash. The intelligence she gathers will be used against the workers. It’s all part of the job, but the job takes a toll on these women for whom honest relationships are far too important to allow them to become agents of betrayal and deceit without paying a heavy psychological price. They are subject to siding with the victim of their spying and—to really complicate things—maybe even falling in love with him. Director Icíar Bollaín knows the psychology of women, which is only one reason she is emerging as one of Spain’s most probing filmmakers.
—Miguel Pendás
Sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
