Verónica Chen presents 'Los terrenos', her new film that invites us to meditate on morality, the ambition of the middle-class and social conflicts
The Argentine director Verónica Chen has presented her new film, ‘Los terrenos’, in the Official Competition Section, a Uruguayan, Argentine, and Brazilian co-production that invites us to meditate on
During the press conference, Chen revealed that she likes to tell stories about normal, real people who are going through a specific moment of moral ambivalence that pushes them to decide. The characters in her feature film are neither good nor bad, but circumstances force them to choose one option - where selfishness prevails - or another - in which they develop their empathy and understand that others are in a situation of need that requires a particular generosity.
Actress Azul Fernández plays Vera, a young, pregnant former surfer who falls in love with a cheap piece of land a few steps from the sea. There lives a widow with two children who, after several negotiations, regrets selling it. From here, Vera's ambition causes her to contact a local real estate agent, who proposes an immoral act to keep her. This story makes us wonder how far we would be able to go to get what we most desire.
About her characters, the director has specified that they are middle-class, educated, intelligent, professional people, who are suddenly carried away by desire and unleash an excessive ambition. From this point on, they are determined to overcome every obstacle that stands in their way, regardless of the consequences.
In the same way, Chen has clarified it that she is trying to portray the ambition of those who are neither at the top nor at the bottom, but right in the middle. And although they are not at the top, they grapple to whatever it takes not to go down a step.
On the other hand, the film also depicts a very topical conflict between the local population and tourists or outsiders passing through. It is a real representation of the current conflict between tourists and locals.
Its main character, Fernández, has shown herself to be very satisfied with her first leading role, which has meant for her a process of much introspection, quite dark and solitary, to internalise her character.
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