A box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates in a display window. Filmed in digital black and white, a framed image that the camera lingers on and one of my favourite shots in the movie El Planeta (2021). In the Spanish town of Gijon, there are numerous shops boarded up, closed down on account of a recession. The Ferrero Rochers are part of a montage of street scenes. We see other shops and their display windows. Commercial items like shoes, lingerie and dresses. Even without the black and white cinematography, the atmosphere is austere. In the commercial shopping districts, we mainly see the elderly walk past. I find the Ferrero Rochers funny because of how they’re thought of as what you buy for a special gift or occasion. Real fancy, even though they’re available in supermarkets, service stations. Not necessarily expensive or hard to get – just imbued with something that is supposed to be classy and special. Appropriate to the theme of the movie, which is about carrying on as if you are expensive, and wealthier than you are, even as the restaurant tabs are piling up and the utilities are about to be cut for unpaid bills.
El Planeta is directed and written by artist Amalia Ulman, starring her and her mother, Ale Ulman. They play a mother and daughter named Maria and Leonor respectively, and we find them in slow free-fall. With the husband and father having died, their status as an upper class family is evaporating. And yet, they exist without urgency, cutting costs and stealing where they can, carrying on the charade of privilege. Casual shoplifting, returning items for refunds, and weathering their dwindling resources. Outside it’s too hot to wear their fur coats. Leonar is an artist and gets an opportunity to design a pop artist album cover in New York, yet has no money for the flight costs. In contrast to a comedy like Arrested Development where a wealthy family is forced to find other means of maintaining their status, the humour here is not broad. The comedy is deadpan and observational. Even as figures of satire, the relationship between mother-and-daughter feels believable and likeable, despite their grifting means.
Great low budget indie flick that is a promising debut for Amalia Ulman. Walks a modulated tone between being endearing and sharp, especially in the use of real world news footage in the closing credits. Available to stream on Stan. Shout out to Static Vision for distributing El Planeta. Recommended.
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