The body underneath a sheet, blood seeping through, as it is being pulled away by some mysterious woman with a little girl looking on from her window--quite an indelible image to open this particular episode of the 6 films to keep you awake. Gloria goes to live in the home of Dr. Ana Torres, a daughter along with her, and she appears weary, baggage of the past visible on the face and in demeanor. A nurse Gloria will also assist Torres who keeps a lab in her home to perform abortions.
A funny knock on the door to a room which Dr. Torres doesn't acknowledge yet Gloria hears. A phone call Dr. Torres strangely evades much to Gloria's dismay. It's very clear early on that Torres is interested sexually in Gloria, the way she caresses her hand or clutches the arm lovingly(it's insinuated and subtle, but obvious; Gloria seems puzzled and unsure how to respond to Torres' advances). Torres even mentions that she would like to help Gloria "pretty herself up", to bring out her beauty which seems to hide underneath a drab exterior.
That phone call I mentioned--Christina, a woman sought after on the phone; her name appears on a necklace along with Ana's for which Gloria's daughter finds. Ana is a liberal, free-thinker who sees(perhaps blindly)Gloria as someone who has moved away from the old-fashioned principles of past society and asks her to help give abortions in the clinic. There's kind of an indication that Ana performs a steady influx of abortions regularly..Dr. Torres even seems to talk one young woman(who doesn't know which the father is between two men)into getting an abortion. Dr. Torres, though, informs her clients that she will perform these abortions when they are the most safe, before three months pregnant due to the danger.
Ana represents change in mores, a lesbian who performs abortions without guilt, as if any other procedure and attempts to kiss Gloria. Gloria, on the other hand, is a bit put off by assisting in the aborting of a small fetus and resists an attempt by Ana to kiss her. Torres keeps trying, and Gloria keeps turning away. It's clear that Torres longs for companionship and love.
Gloria learns from a busybody religious wallflower who lives next door that three women(obviously lovers)have came and went, Ana having coddled them until they no longer needed her. Then comes Javier which further complicates things. Then pregnancy. Torres is dejected in that her love is constantly spurned and instead Gloria is impregnated by a man who could never give that same kind of affection. But with an economy uncertain and possible lay offs looming at the hospital Gloria often works, the idea of having a second child absent a father seems too risky and troublesome a task to endure. Repercussions of an abortion become the turning point in the friendship of Gloria and Ana which results in tragedy.
BLAME delves primarily into the topic of abortion and how it concerns the mental breakdown of one fragile woman who decides to have it done despite truly wanting to keep it. Gloria's daughter contributes to the breakdown by mentioning in various ways how she was disappointed in not getting a new brother. We see how other women make the choice and Dr. Torres gladly performs them without fail while Gloria reluctantly assists, later herself in the same position. This felt curiously anti-abortion, the way the procedure and those who have it(and the doctor performing them)is portrayed as almost a crime. Ana's little room in her home, the way women secretly enter therein wanting to be rid of what would be a burden on their lives, the hideous means with how the murdered fetuses are discarded through being flushed down a toilet like excrement. And the final frame of guilt-stricken Gloria balled into the fetal position speaking in the personality of her unborn, discarded child, before the director overlays the image of the fetus over her. BLAME never quite launches into a horror film as you would be led to believe, despite signs of an eerie presence as the principles hear noises, walk into ominous rooms, and through the strange behavior of Gloria's daughter who always seems to be hiding something. Nieve de Medina is Ana, Montse Mostaza is Gloria, and Alejandra Lorenzo is Gloria's daughter, Vicky. Well acted, competently directed, but for some reason this mini-movie never quite took off and the horror elements are lacking. Quite simply, this is more of a drama and I was expecting a horror film..I imagine this will elicit the same reaction from others.
A funny knock on the door to a room which Dr. Torres doesn't acknowledge yet Gloria hears. A phone call Dr. Torres strangely evades much to Gloria's dismay. It's very clear early on that Torres is interested sexually in Gloria, the way she caresses her hand or clutches the arm lovingly(it's insinuated and subtle, but obvious; Gloria seems puzzled and unsure how to respond to Torres' advances). Torres even mentions that she would like to help Gloria "pretty herself up", to bring out her beauty which seems to hide underneath a drab exterior.
That phone call I mentioned--Christina, a woman sought after on the phone; her name appears on a necklace along with Ana's for which Gloria's daughter finds. Ana is a liberal, free-thinker who sees(perhaps blindly)Gloria as someone who has moved away from the old-fashioned principles of past society and asks her to help give abortions in the clinic. There's kind of an indication that Ana performs a steady influx of abortions regularly..Dr. Torres even seems to talk one young woman(who doesn't know which the father is between two men)into getting an abortion. Dr. Torres, though, informs her clients that she will perform these abortions when they are the most safe, before three months pregnant due to the danger.
Ana represents change in mores, a lesbian who performs abortions without guilt, as if any other procedure and attempts to kiss Gloria. Gloria, on the other hand, is a bit put off by assisting in the aborting of a small fetus and resists an attempt by Ana to kiss her. Torres keeps trying, and Gloria keeps turning away. It's clear that Torres longs for companionship and love.
Gloria learns from a busybody religious wallflower who lives next door that three women(obviously lovers)have came and went, Ana having coddled them until they no longer needed her. Then comes Javier which further complicates things. Then pregnancy. Torres is dejected in that her love is constantly spurned and instead Gloria is impregnated by a man who could never give that same kind of affection. But with an economy uncertain and possible lay offs looming at the hospital Gloria often works, the idea of having a second child absent a father seems too risky and troublesome a task to endure. Repercussions of an abortion become the turning point in the friendship of Gloria and Ana which results in tragedy.
BLAME delves primarily into the topic of abortion and how it concerns the mental breakdown of one fragile woman who decides to have it done despite truly wanting to keep it. Gloria's daughter contributes to the breakdown by mentioning in various ways how she was disappointed in not getting a new brother. We see how other women make the choice and Dr. Torres gladly performs them without fail while Gloria reluctantly assists, later herself in the same position. This felt curiously anti-abortion, the way the procedure and those who have it(and the doctor performing them)is portrayed as almost a crime. Ana's little room in her home, the way women secretly enter therein wanting to be rid of what would be a burden on their lives, the hideous means with how the murdered fetuses are discarded through being flushed down a toilet like excrement. And the final frame of guilt-stricken Gloria balled into the fetal position speaking in the personality of her unborn, discarded child, before the director overlays the image of the fetus over her. BLAME never quite launches into a horror film as you would be led to believe, despite signs of an eerie presence as the principles hear noises, walk into ominous rooms, and through the strange behavior of Gloria's daughter who always seems to be hiding something. Nieve de Medina is Ana, Montse Mostaza is Gloria, and Alejandra Lorenzo is Gloria's daughter, Vicky. Well acted, competently directed, but for some reason this mini-movie never quite took off and the horror elements are lacking. Quite simply, this is more of a drama and I was expecting a horror film..I imagine this will elicit the same reaction from others.