You Are Not Me
After a long trip from Brazil to visit her family in Spain for the first time in three years, Aitana (Roser Tapias), her wife Gabi (Yapoena Silva) and their adopted six month old son João arrive but discover their luggage has not. Aitana's spirits are still high as she drives to her parents country villa where she plans to surprise them on Christmas Eve as they are not expected until the next day. But she is shocked at the cold reception they receive, only her disabled brother Saúl (Jorge Motos) apparently happy to see them. Not only that but her parents Justo (Alfred Picó) and Dori (Pilar Almería) now call a Romanian refugee, Nadia (Anna Kurikka), their 'daughter' in "You Are Not Me."
Laura's Review: B
Writer/directors Marisa Crespo & Moisés Romera use the paranoid fundamentals of "Rosemary's Baby" for a very disorienting and disturbing Christmas homecoming tale. If Rosemary Woodhouse didn't initially suspect she was being betrayed by her husband, Aitana knows something is off as soon as her parents' doorbell is answered by a stranger, Pepita (Pilar Martínez), who, while polite, doesn't exactly welcome them in out of the cold right away. Once inside, the parents she was just speaking to on the phone, pretending she was still in São Paulo in order to surprise them, are not smiling and do not rush to greet them, Dori even initially refusing to hold João (the little boy is referred to as a 'chocolate bonbon' by an admiring Pepita). 'Why didn't you tell us?' they ask, clearly viewing her arrival as an imposition.
Aitana heads upstairs to see about clothing and is stunned to find someone in her bed, someone who attacks her. Back downstairs she'll be introduced to Nadia who has not only taken over her room but is wearing her old clothes. With Pepita and her husband Oriol (Álvaro Báguena), described as close friends of her parents, in the guest room, Justo prepares to take them to a hotel. Flabbergasted, Aitana says the three will sleep in the turret room, now used for storage. The walk up the stairs to that room reveals hunting trophies looming overhead, adding to the now threatening atmosphere, but Gabi insists that Aitana is over reacting, excusing her parents' odd behavior.
Things get more unsettling when Aitana goes downstairs and overhears Nadia being given a gift, which turns out to be an alteration of her wedding gown. She'll find Saúl in the kitchen talking to a dead grandfather, then suffering a seizure. Justo asks Aitana not to embarrass him in front of his guests that evening, as she has done before while Dori asks Gabi if Aitana is taking medication after the 'crisis' she suffered three years ago, then tells her they have gone broke searching for a cure for Saúl. Aitana will find two men looking for drugs from Nadia who has apparently been selling them Saúl's, but her parents refuse to listen to any criticism of the woman, who has also been given family heirlooms. She'll even discover a framed photograph of Nadia, who is older and less attractive than Aitana, covering her own picture within the frame. When a clutch of wealthy looking, elderly guests arrive, Aitana discovers she's been locked into the turret (and we just know her means of escape will provide that 'embarrassment' her father warned against), as Pepita presses her herbal liqueur on Gabi and Saúl downstairs.
Cinematographer Víctor Entrecanales emphasizes corridors and doorways, giving us the feeling of walls closing in. Composer Joan Vilà provides an eerie twist to Christmas carol 'Silver Bells,' which, of course, calls to mind the tubular kind as well. Crespo and Romera keep reeling us in along with their protagonist as we empathize with her bafflement and outrage, but once we get a look at Justo and Dori's dinner party, it becomes very easy to connect dots which had already been taking shape and unfortunately they drag things out when they should be ramping up. Still, they continue to sprinkle enough horrific images and scenarios to get us across the finish line, their final scene suggesting something else entirely before landing a final punch.
Robin's Review: B
Doppleganger Releasing opens "You Are Not Here" in select theaters and digitally on 12/6/24. Click here for theaters.
