The Dark Side of the Heart (1992) User Reviews

Death and the poet

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 31 December 2005]

If not for anything else, Eliseo Subiela's "El lado oscuro del corazon" will introduce the casual viewer to the poetry of Mario Benedetti, Juan Gelman, Oliverio Girondo as well as the director's own compositions. Eliseo Subiela is one of the best Argentine directors of all times, as this 1992 film clearly demonstrates.

Oliverio, the taciturn man we meet at the beginning of the film, takes us on a trip to Montevideo where, one night, he meets the exotic Ana in a night club where prostitutes gather. It's clear the mutual attraction Oliverio and Ana feel toward one another the moment they set their eyes on each other. It appears that, at last, Oliverio has found the elusive woman who can fly with him. These two souls make love, but Ana, being a hooker, reminds Oliverio his time is up. What is even better, Oliverio, an amateur poet, meets his match in Ana, who loves and knows the texts he recites to her as a way of introduction.

Oliverio has had his share of lovers. We see him making love to beautiful women, but none of them qualify as the one to fulfill his life. In a comic touch, Oliverio's bed is divided in two and when he finds a woman is not for him, he rings a bell in the night table and the other half of the bed opens up and the victim falls to an abyss.

In order to survive, Oliverio free lances as well as write poetry which he and his two buddies, Erik and Gustavo trade for food to the friendly restaurant owner who loves to recite the poems to his fiancée. Oliverio is seen walking at night, as well as when he travels to Montevideo when he feels the urge to see Ana, and has long debates with a woman clad in black who is Death personified.

One thing is clear, Oliverio can't have Ana, as she cleverly reminds him. Ana can't afford to be too generous with anyone. Ana obviously loves Oliverio, but she has other priorities that are only revealed at the end of the film. One of the best sequences in the film involves an erotic art exhibit by Erik that is not to be believed.

Dario Grandinetti, the great Argentine actor, plays Oliverio with equal parts of charm and mystery. Mr. Grandinetti makes an invaluable contribution to the success of the film. He is the main reason for watching this forgotten film that is full of poetry and magic. Sandra Ballesteros is seen as Ana. Ms. Ballesteros is an equal match to Mr. Grandinetti. Nacha Guevara plays Death with panache. Ms. Guevara, who is one of the best cabaret and performance artists of Argentina, is a huge talent that Mr. Subiela utilizes to the best results in the movie. As Oliverio's buddies, Andre Melancon and Jean Pierre Reguerraz are perfect.

The popular music by Mario Clavel, Osvaldo Montes, Chico Novarro and Fito Paez blend perfectly in the movie's atmosphere. The dark cinematography by Hugo Colace adds another dimension in our enjoyment of the film. Ultimately, this is Eliseo Subiela's triumph in a movie that is not only beautiful to look at, but to listen to the great poetry the director brings to it for our pleasure.

One of the best Subiela´s

[loco_serenata · 8/10 · 20 March 2003]

"El lado oscuro del corazón", is one of the best movies I´ve ever seen. Inspired in the life of Oliverio Girondo, (a great argentinian writer, intelectual father of Jorge Luis Borges, transgressor in the 30´s) it talks about life and love. The desperate search of Oliverio for a woman who could levitate after making love. Oliverio travels alternatively from Buenos Aires to Montevideo and each travel is a fantastic portrait of both cities, meanwhile the fears of Oliverio arise to a climax Don´t miss it, if you like poetry

Greatly philosophical and poetic, although a bit thick

[Imdbidia · 8/10 · 3 March 2011]

Another magic and unmistakable film by the Argentinean director and screenwriter Eliseo Subiela.

This is the story of Oliverio, a poor poet without success and his personal quest to find his perfect woman.

This is a story of non-mainstream art and artists who live their lives fully, with coherence, and unconventionally. This is a movie about the importance of poetry and Art in daily life, and about how perfection can be sometimes found in somebody else's rubbish bin.

In this movie, Subiela has the ability to talk about sex and passion in an explicit way, yet full of lyricism and without vulgarity. He harmoniously mixes the conscious, the subconscious and surrealist elements in an easy to understand way. Subiela creates a reality that is personal and real for dreamer Oliverio, real to him, although unreal to us. Subiela also creates a world of alternatives lives within reality as not everybody lives the same, thinks the same, or approaches reality and the world in the same way.

This movie has memorable poetic dialogs, with the intervention of the late Argentinean poet Benedetti (who plays a small role and recites some poems in German in a brothel), the surreal conversations of Oliverio with Death (played by Nacha Guevara) as if they were two friends or lovers who have known each other forever, or his conversations on Time with a cow. In fact, there are so many magic moments in this film that they are impossible to list here.

The downs of the movie are two to me. The first, is the performance by the leading actor, Dario Grandinetti, who I found painful to watch, as he overacts badly all the time; not even his gorgeous naked body was able to make me forget his performance. The second down is the footage, as the movie is 2 hours long and overcrowded with dialogs of great philosophical depth, which can bring you to desperation and give you a headache. I think that a reduction of the footage and the chopping of some of the scenes/dialogs would have helped the movie to get along in a more fluid way without losing any depth.

This movie is full of magic, onirism, surrealism, poetry, and human depth. It is not easy to watch, but mesmerizing at the same time. However, you just have to be ready to watch it, as this is not a film for lazy watchers!

The Best Romantic Movie yet

[jandeakker · 10/10 · 6 January 2000]

This movie hit the box-offices in Argentina and drove the standard Hollywood movies out of their normal first places, concerning the numbers of spectators. And not without reason! The movie is not only a love story -the quest of a poet for the perfect woman- but also a story of the ´soul´ of Argentina. It is all about life and death and death in life. The style is superb: surreal shots are mixed with more ´real´shots that ensure the movie does not become totally vague and incomprehensible. The abundant use of poems adds to the magical, surreal, romantic character of the film. The movie kept (and keeps) me to my seat until the end. Subiela shows great love for film-making and this is reflected in this masterpiece. See it!

The Dark Side in the Light of Genius

[gilgeoIII · 10/10 · 21 August 2008]

"The Dark Side of the Heart," a fierce and divine comedy, may not be on any list of the greatest films of all time, but this Argentine masterwork of poetic surrealism and erotic irreverence more than belongs there.

Bunuel himself may have wept with envy in movie-god heaven when this brilliant comedy was released in 1992, but if he didn't, he should have.

Oliverio, a madman poet and seducer extraordinaire is in bed with his latest conquest, as the film begins, saying, "It matters not if (you) wake up in the morning with a breath like insecticide or an aphrodisiac, or if (your) skin feels like a peach or sandpaper....but on no account will I forgive a woman who cannot fly." At that, he disappears her down a trap door hidden on the bed. I suspect every man in the audience wept with joy. I certainly did.

The poet, played by the wonderful Dario Grandinetti, stalks the streets of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, with a billowing cape, searching for ideal love, and when he finally finds it with the magnificent Sandra Ballesteros, like discovering Shakespeare's sonnets the first time, she is a puta with a heart like a steel bank who is always searching for the ideal $100 trick. At one point, he tears out his heart for her as she feasts on it briefly then casually throws it away. I suspect every man in the audience wept for him. I certainly did.

Eventually they have the greatest love scene of all time, while levitating, naturally, but his time runs out as she gets ready for her next customer. I suspect every man in the audience wept with deja vu. I certainly did.

Eliseo Subiela's direction ("Man Facing Southeast") offers sublimely moody imagery of bravura originality, including that love scene of visual splendor, which lingers long in the mind's eye of the heart. "The Dark Side of the Heart," also a spot-on political allegory,is available on DVD at Netflicks. Miss it at your peril.

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Poesía en opera

[spanky-37 · 10/10 · 3 July 1999]

I believe there are few films that can actually touch the core of someone's soul the way Eliseo Subiela does it in this film.

Subiela´s view of life through poetry is outstanding and the magical reality that surrounds the characters transport you to a dimension only felt in the enchanting coasts of Argentina

a surrealist film, like it resembles a dream or a fantasy world coming from an extremely enthusiastic person

[rakshita_parihar · 7/10 · 20 January 2023]

The Dark Side of the Heart (Spanish: El lado oscuro del corazón) is a 1992 surrealist romantic drama movie.

It follows the story of a poet who is on an extreme search for such a perfectly accurate woman-"a woman who can fly, and if she cannot fly, she is wasting her time with him".

Like when he finds out that the woman isn't perfect and she lacks what he desired, then she's very rudely rejected by him through a trap door designed beside his bed.

It was an Argentine Spanish-language film, and it was written and directed by Eliseo Subiela.

Oliver is a young and handsome poet who lives in Argentina.

He's always lost in the vivid world of his poetry, or as we can also say, creative poetic writing and imaginative thoughts.

He dislikes working for an office, so to live off of it he has to sell and share his thoughts, ideas, and also poetry, so that's his way of earning some pennies to survive.

Apart from his visionary world of poetry, Oliver is also busy seeking a perfect, flawless woman-a woman who can fulfil his life with extraordinary passion and magical lust, although it all seems like an idle fancy.

So in search of such an ideal woman, he gets physical with several women and those women who don't fit into his imaginary sensual world, are very rudely rejected by him by just pushing one button in his bed and making the woman fall into the trap wickedly designed in his bed.

Once, Oliver meets a blind woman who can only sense things and perceive the physical world by the power of touch, and she's the one and only person whom Oliver doesn't reject through his bed trap door.

Oliver's life changes when he meets a prostitute named Anna, and he immediately falls for her. Anna also fits into his idealised world of perfect women.

He demands a life with Anna, but this time Anna thoroughly rejects him. She's more practical than theoretical or an imaginary daydreamer like Oliver.

Basically, we can summarise the entire movie as a surrealist film, like it resembles a dream or a fantasy world coming from an extremely enthusiastic person.

However, Oliver is unable to turn down one significant woman in his life, named Death, who's quietly as mysterious as a ghost.

Night and day, she's dressed in black, obviously the colour of death, and always holding a copy of the classified ads just to assist Oliverio in hunting for a job which he definitely hates.

Best movie I've ever seen

[Churu2k3 · 10/10 · 4 April 2000]

It has it all: it has poetry, comedy, music, a moving plot, surrealism, some magic, a moral and more.

It is one of those movies you'll be talking about for a long time.

Watch it.....

[Carl-50 · 14 August 1999]

Its rare a movie can make you stop and look at life, this one does. Eliseo has a gift of story telling, again we see him telling a very sad story of a poet and his life in Bue~as Aires. as a guest (the german poet) is Mario Benedetti, wow.

Sex, death, and poetry

[Red-125 · 7/10 · 24 September 2020]

The Argentinian film El lado oscuro del corazón (1992) was shown in the U.S. with the translated title The Dark Side of the Heart. The movie was written and directed by Eliseo Subiela.

Darío Grandinetti plays Oliverio, an Argentinian poet. He travels to Montevideo where he meets Ana, played by Sandra Ballesteros. She's a beautiful prostitute. The fall in love--they have to fall in love--but she's very clear about the fact that he pays for every evening spent in her bed.

The movie is not just about a poet, but about poetry. Mario Benedetti, Juan Gelman, and Oliverio Girondo are three poets who are well known in Latin America. Characters in the movie--including Ana--recite their poetry.

That was the problem for me with this film. Prose translates fairly well, but poetry doesn't.

Nacha Guevara is the beautiful actor who portrays Death in the movie. She and Oliverio have long conversations. It's an interesting concept, like the knight playing chess against Death in Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957).

The movie worked well on the small screen. It has a strong IMDb rating of 7.6. If I spoke Spanish, I would have given it a higher rating. I rated it 7.

Poetry in motion.

[DukeEman · 9/10 · 21 March 1999]

A film about a poet and his love for a hooker; the poet and his friendship with his artistic friends; the poet and his run-ins with the beautiful Death; the poet and his poems. A poetic film.

A masterpiece of poetry & magical realism.

[Beban · 10/10 · 26 October 1998]

A masterpiece of poetry & magical realism. The "comic" device of the poet's dialogues with death is sheer brilliance; the many ways a heart can be used are explored masterfully; the friendship between the three Dionysian male friends is a delight. Rent this film. Keep it a few extra days and watch it again. It's hard to find, but definitely belongs on your "Ten Best" list.

Inspirational

[mario10zeus · 9/10 · 9 November 2008]

Subiela combines the poetry of Benedetti, with an unusual plot which combines elements of surrealism and magic realism. Dario Grandinetti (who also appears in Almodovar's "Talk to Her") plays Oliverio, a poet who freelances for advertisers in order to survive. Several elements are left to the assumption. We don't see Oliverio's family. He always seems to wear black. Oliverio walks around the dirty streets of Buenos Aires, rarely encountering sunlight, always raining. These areas are metaphors which are supposed to represent the darkness inside his heart. Oliverio is searching for a woman who is capable of making him levitate. Soon he meets a prostitute with a penchant for poetry who fulfills this needs. she becomes his muse, but for her he is only one of many clients. An excellent movie that for some reason is particularly unknown for those outside of Argentina.

impresionant film!

[ariel-15 · 10/10 · 6 December 1998]

"El Lado Oscuro del Corazon" is not a conventional film, it is totally different. This film is true art, it uses the Mario Benedeti,s poems and here it begins the art and the solemnity own of this mastepieces; this do it special and winner of the you watch it. Please enjoy it!

Airborne

[frankgaipa · 10/10 · 22 November 2002]

Recently I saw a another film about a woman who knows how to fly. Already at the dreamlike flight-sim-landscape cruising intro to Kieslowski's (and Tom Tykwer's) "Heaven," but much more so at that intro's payoff later in the film and in the film's love story, I was put in mind of "Dark Side of the Heart's" introductory use of Oliverio Girondo's lines, "...about this I'm adamant. I pardon no woman, under any pretext, who doesn't know how to fly. If they can't fly, they're wasting their time trying to seduce me!" "Heaven" can't go quite where it does, without its heroine learning to fly. Though it may be less obvious in the case of the Subiela, both films have political subtexts. Subiela introduced me not only to Girondo, but to Mario Benedetti, making me rehabilitate enough of my high school Spanish to absorb several volumes. Toward the middle of the film, the first time Oliverio (the protagonist's named after, but isn't meant to be, the real-life poet) stays in Ana's flat, she pulls a Benedetti volume out of the bedside lamp. "What? A prostitute who reads Benedetti?!" "Si." "But you keep it in a lamp?" "Sometimes that's safest." (My memory's omitting a few words.)

Another way of looking at "Dark Side of the Heart" is as, not sci-fi exactly but, speculative fiction. It describes an alternate reality in which words are cash. Not only does Ana stash her Benedetti like gold, but Oliverio pays for meals with poems, walks through a traffic jam panhandling by reciting at likely windows and holding out his hand.

Ultimately, Oliverio has to end alone, because our world, yours and mine, won't let Ana go. Another way of saying it, is that his world doesn't quite exist, or exists just enough less than Ana's or our world exists. In this respect, a fine touchpoint for "Dark Side of the Heart " is the nearly impossible-to-see Kobayashi film "Kaseki "(Fossil), with its unattainable-except-if heroine and interfering angel of death ("Dark Side..." has one of these, too).

But, if you've just seen "Dark Side of the Heart," now is a great time to see "Heaven." If you've already seen "Heaven," then you've come to the right film. Find a way to see "Dark Side." For a more sinister flight tie-in, see Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Kairo" with its spectre-fraught airliner plunging into an abandoned factory, and consider the airborne event that knocked "Kairo" out of distribution.

An intoxicating mix of poetry, eroticism, and comic absurdity

[howard.schumann · 8/10 · 30 June 2011]

Eliseo Subiela's 1992 film The Dark Side of the Heart is an intoxicating mix of poetry, eroticism, and comic absurdity. The Argentine director, well known for such surrealistic films as Man Facing Southeast and The Last Images of the Shipwreck, outdoes expectations in Dark Side with more and better Latin-American style magic realism. The film has everything: lovers that levitate, a character having a conversation with a cow that represents his mother, talking to his other self that he keeps locked in a closet, having a heart-to-heart chat with the personification of Death (Nacha Guevara), and a love scene depicted as a roller coaster ride.

Oliverio (Dario GrandinettI), a handsome poet seeks out the perfect woman, the girl that can fly. "I don't give a damn if a woman's breasts are like magnolias or figs," he says, "if her skin feels like peach or sandpaper ... {but} on no account whatsoever will I forgive a woman who cannot fly." Those that do not fulfill his standards are summarily dismissed. With the push of a button, a trap door opens on their side of the bed, sending them falling into the abyss. Living the life of an artist in Buenos Aires, Oliverio is self-absorbed to the point of narcissism and the film looks at the world mostly from his (the male) point of view. He spends his days looking for a handout by reciting lines of his poetry to motorists and to restaurant owners in search of a free meal.

Oliverio has a friend Gustavo (André Mélancon) who insists on displaying his erotic sculptures in public but has to repeatedly bail him out of jail. The would-be poet travels to Montevideo in Uruguay where he finds Ana (Sandra Ballestros), a prostitute he tries to seduce by reciting the poetry of Mario Benedetti, only to find that she knows the poems as well as he. Refusing to fall for his too obvious come-ons, Ana is all business and rejects his obsessive pleas for romance. There's a little bit of politics as well, as Ana tells him that her husband was arrested and "disappeared" by Argentina's former dictatorship. Much to his surprise, he finds himself falling in love with Ana and pursues her until they can levitate together, soaring over tall buildings into the night sky. What better way is there to express love?

The Poetry of Life, Love, and heartbreak.

[joeratkinson · 10/10 · 12 November 2009]

Through the imagination of a deep and distant poet named Oliverio we experience a world that exists between fantasy and reality. On a quest for 'true' love Oliverio rejects women 'who cannot fly', sending them into the abyss through a trap door in his bed. Disheartened women look up through the dark rectangular hole at the man who is god of their hearts peering down on them with contempt and pity for death.

He later finds love in a prostitute named Ana as their souls converge and fly in unison, but she will never give in completely. Oliverio continues to fight with himself and Death (La Muerta) who both plead the poet on several occasions to seek a practical and conventional life. To Oliverio, giving up his quest for love would amount to death, and he continues to suffer by choice. He seems to find inspiration in the unrealized passion burning within his soul.

It soon becomes difficult to distinguish fantasy from reality. In a powerful scene he and Ana meet at a pier overlooking the ocean where they profess beautiful poetry to each other over passionate love music. A wide angel lens captures the vast ocean. A heavy door is kicked down next, and a long slow motion love scene ensues ending with them flying in poetic perfection to beautiful slow instrumental music. A $100 bill engulfs in flames (her fee of course) and she kisses his exposed heart with love and passion as she holds it gently in her hands. Death stands at the door in disarray as they float and bask in the joys of life. She then kicks him out to screw another client. Is it business only? Was this fantasy, or reality? Later she finds him again. They make love (for free) and fly over Buenos Aires. Then she releases a trap door in the bed and drops him into the dark abyss abruptly as he did to so many women. Death was right. Love failed as it always does. In the end she broke his heart, which ironically gave it life, leaving Oliverio rich with inspiration. This passionate feeling could only be achieved through true heartbreak. In the end it was self-destruction that kept him alive through passion and inspiration. Without this he would be doomed to watching the toy train circle endlessly (a metaphor for lack of purpose and direction).

This movie to me simply portrays a man seeking to experience life to its fullest. It begins as art and ends as a poetic masterpiece that transcends the boundaries of the human soul.

As an interesting twist, the movie ends with death asking to use the phone. Seeking a lost love perhaps? Though slow paced, this was one of the best and most nakedly powerful films I have seen in some time, a true testament of the human soul.

Highly recommended.

the entire movie is a symbol.

[franco-11 · 10/10 · 30 December 1998]

this, is a film that both entertains and make you think,it is poetry made images,it is a great production,it is one of the best films ever made.A great director creates a real masterpiece helped by wonderful actors and three extraordinary poets.What else can you ask for?

To Levitate...

[cc50 · 10/10 · 20 January 2004]

A wonderful love exercise... A poem... A magic dream... A realistic - fantastic life...

Argentinian director Eliseo Subiela has created a masterpiece about the true meaning of art and commerce.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 10/10 · 20 October 2014]

Whenever human beings start to question the true meaning of life, they are invariably led to explore more about arts and poetry. It is art as well as poetry which make human lives worth living. However, neither art nor poetry can sustain itself without a basic form of commerce. It is on these necessary lines that Argentinian director Eliseo Subiela has constructed his film "El Lado Oscuro Del Corazon". What makes his film interesting is that it makes good use of two leading characters a poet and a prostitute to illustrate his point. The emotional force of Subiela's film is quite strong as it talks about unusual uses of poetry. In one poignant scene, one sees how the poet sells his poem to a street vendor for food. The notion of freedom as well as individuality has been depicted from the perspective of the prostitute who never allows anybody to have an absolute control over her person. "El Lado Oscuro Del Corazon" is able to reveal itself as an important film as it informs us that although there is little commercial value for poetry, an honest poet would never compromise his dignity in order to sell poetry.