Winner, Silver Bear Jury Prize, Berlin 2022
Disappearance is at the heart of Robe of Gems. A wealthy, white divorcee, Isabel (Nailea Norvind), moves into her mother’s old rural Mexican villa with her two adolescent children. Their housekeeper, Mari (Antonia Olivares), has a sister who has been missing for over a year. As police reports and community searches provide no resolution, Isabel foolheartedly takes matters into her own hands. Natalia López’s debut feature is a haunting evocation of contemporary Mexico in thrall to violent narcos and kidnappers. The film’s patient, elliptical unfolding mirrors the tenuousness of a society corrupted at its very core, in which the drug trade infects all strata, seeping into familial, social, and occupational bonds, and gnawing them threadbare. Like the characters themselves, viewers of the film rarely have firm footing whilst navigating this devastating, hostile environment. But López’s strong directorial choices, sophisticated visual language, and emotionally poignant editing make for a film as captivating as it is unsettling. ~TW
***Followed by Zoom Q&A with the director***