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Unconscious The Movie – A Review

Leonor Watling Luis Tosar, Nuria Prims

Directed by JoaquinOristrell

Rated R

Unconscious is a Spanish movie The film from Spain, Unconscious is a farce that is so fluffy, so light and so light that it’s easy to forget that it deals with difficult subject matter. The film is set on the streets of Spain around 1913 during the beginning of psychoanalysis The filmhas the shadow of Sigmund Freud that hangs over it, since the revolutionary psychiatrist is scheduled to come to talk to his followers in the area and his new theories have caused all kinds of controversy within the Spanish mental-health sector. One doctor who is not a fan of Freud’s obsession with sex is dressed-down Salvador (Tosar) however, the other way Freud influences the film is more symbolic, in that Salvador has to be taught to express his desires in a way that is very progressive.

It’s because of his sister-in law, Alma (Watling), her husband, also psychiatrist, has gone missing. Alma and Salvador’s quest to find the missing Leon is a journey deep into their darkest desires and secrets that are buried and Salvador’s wife Olivia (Prims), Alma as well as Olivia’s father, even Salvador’s father, the Queen of Spain himself. Co-director and director Oristrell creates hilarious, raunchy scenes about cross-dressing, bondage and incest, while still managing to draw laughter and an element of genuine emotion from every.

Watling, one of Pedro Almodovar’s most popular characters who’s always fun watching, looks charming in this film, and a lot of the set-pieces that are screwball are hilarious in a funny twisted way. Oristrell tends to overdo the fun, however, with adorable interludes that look like silent film inter-titles or even frames of film being caught by the projector. Alma frequently reveals the names of prominent political and literary figures showing she’s more intelligent than most women in her day, but showing that Oristrell does not really engage on all the topics he’s discussing.

He brings back the era by wearing elaborate clothes and more intricate facial hairstyles and leaves you with much to consider. Like Freud might have said, however there are times when a film is simply a movie.