«Gloria Bell, chronicle of an unhappy woman in love

Cinema Wednesdays - Lauriane Pipoz

Gloria Bell, a beautiful, energetic 50-something, is divorced. She loves her family, her work, music and going out dancing. It's in these clubs that she makes fleeting encounters. Until her gaze catches that of Arnold, a touching man recently divorced «from his ex-wife, but not from his children». Gloria decides to take the plunge.

In this remake of his own film (Gloria, 2013, which won its lead actress Paulina García a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival), Sebastián Lelio shows us a fifty-something in love with freedom and strong emotions. Gloria finds these emotions in discotheques, through the music of her youth: that of the bright, dancing, dazzling 80s - the music we rightly call «disco».

Brilliant actors

Music plays a vital role in the film. Dialogue is sparse, and this is an opportunity to note that the cast and director have perfectly mastered the art of suggestion. Gloria, at the heart of these silent sequences, needs no words to convey the emotions she feels to the viewer - and Julianne Moore, in the foreground, is certainly a star.

Read also: «Astrid», the quest for freedom

The film is slow-moving, and they're able to rise to Moore's level during sometimes lengthy sequences. In these moments, the viewer is totally integrated into their setting: the camera is judiciously placed around a table, on the same level as the guests, or in the passenger seat. At times, we can even feel the characters' gaze on us. Striking.

To help his magnificent actors convey the emotional state of their characters, Lelio seems to use music in place of superfluous lyrics. The songs the fifty-year-old listens to in her car and sings at the top of her lungs echo her own story. Similarly, a melody recurs every time she touches happiness with her fingertips.

Let me dance

Unfortunately, these moments of happiness are short-lived. Gloria, who seems free, is not so free after all. Excellent at everything - good mother, ex-wife with no hard feelings, devoted counselor - she takes a back seat to try to do good around her. She seems to be trapped in a pattern where she's constantly taking care of others, but nobody's looking out for her.

«Mom, you tell me that every ten years.» 

This is probably the most important development in the film. Gloria still has her ups and downs, cries a lot, but handles them differently. She finally decides to ask for help when she can't take it anymore, welcomes affection when it presents itself - in the form of a cat, for example - and decides to dance on her own.

If certain elements of the film suggest that this willingness to take care of herself and this feeling of freedom won't last, we note with pleasure that at the end of the story, she decides to twirl to the music, alone, for herself - unlike at the beginning of the film, where she tells Arnold that she dances alone, but doesn't realize that she never does for long. So more than Arnold's body, Gloria Bell loves music. And by offering her fleeting freedom, the music returns the favor.

Photo credits: © Ascot Elite Entertainment

Write to the author: lauriane.pipoz@leregardlibre.com