Familia (1996) User Reviews

The Surrealistic World of a Lonely and Rich Man, in a Very Metaphoric Comedy

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 28 May 2004]

On the day of his birthday, Santiago (Juan Luiz Galiardo) hires a team of actors and actresses to play as if they were members of his family. Along the day, the personality and sentiments of each member of his fake family is disclosed to the viewer, showing their true feelings. This weird and surrealistic story is a great metaphor with the real society. In a simple way, it can be understood as a powerful and lonely man, who somehow misses his family and hires a group of actors and actresses to perform, on the day of his birthday, as if they were his lost family, as a kind of weird celebration. This type of interpretation leads the viewer to a great review of the hypocrisy of the institution `family'. But if we extend this idea further and further, the lonely and rich man might be a government, a powerful dictator, an employer, a manager, trying to build his own perfect world, represented by his family. However, even though providing all the instructions, orders, good conditions and salaries for the participants, his world may not work the way he wants. Human beings are not machines: they may use masks, hiding their real feelings, following a social behavior ruled by the society or the system. But in the end, persons have free will and even flaws in their characters and behaviors and the system may not work perfectly as planned. In the end, Santiago applauds the great performance of the players and concludes that it is better off be part of an imperfect `family' (could be the world, the society etc.) than to live alone (or be dead…). My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Segredos em Família' (`Secrets in Family')

A PERFECT PARODY

[kida_fish · 7/10 · 12 April 2004]

*SPOILERS*

FAMILIA is one of those movies that is deeply agitated, but tries to keep as stoic-a-face as possible. This nature makes the movie scary, as well as hilariously funny. The main character of the movie, Santigo hires a group of actors to play his family just for one day, that of his birthday. Well, if this alone sounds messed up, there is more to come.

In a way, Santigo's family (or the actors playing the part of Santigo's family) is disheveled. Particularly, there is incest amongst most of the members of Santigo's 'perfect' family. The steamy relationship between Santigo and his sister-in-law, or between Ventura (Santigo's brother) and Santigo's wife (who is actually Ventura's wife), and even between Santigo's supposed son and daughter, show that even as desired and planned by Santigo, his kin is not as perfect after all. All these shocking acts of spontaneous incestuous relationships are taken so frighteningly casually by Fernando León de Aranoa, that it seems as if such instances are a part of a 'normal' family.

The scary part of the movie is that every scene is predetermined by Santigo, including who should speak what, when, where and how. Even the death of his mother just before his birthday ends, happens as desired by him. And, at the end of his day, when Santigo applauds for the fantastic performance of his family and tells them that it is better to be a part of a dysfunctional family than live alone, it sends a chill through the spine. It is director Fernando León de Aranoa's way of tickling the fact of how our modern unbalanced lives try to hide our truths behind all the glitz of its seemingly 'perfect' exterior.

Though scary, it funny, how shamelessly León de Aranoa limns Santigo's half-crazed family. For instance, Santigo gets furious when he sees that his son is fatter than he wanted him to be, and brings the whole house down, screaming that he did not want a fat son with glasses. Also, during times when Santigo is not around, Ventura goes on about correcting his actors, on where they had gone wrong, or gone out of 'script'.



Probably Santigo's messed up 'enacted' family can be considered as a metaphor for the 'ideal' society of today, which, much like the his 'scripted' family, tries to be superciliously perfect, trying to hide its nether, lesser underbelly. FAMILIA is director Fernando León de Aranoa's clever way of teasing the modern materialistic hollow life: A perfect smirch on today's degenerating man.

RATING: 7/10

The Actor who acts as the painter who paint and the writer who writes

[balandra_bcs-1 · 8/10 · 16 June 2005]

A watched this film for the first time a couple of years ago, in a film festival and a liked very much. A year ago I've the opportunity to buy it very chip in the supermarket. I enjoyed it again. At this time Elena Anaya has developed her career a lot, I've seen her in Rewind, Bendito Infierno, Blue room, Lucía and the sex and one or two more. Particularly in this film I liked her very natural performance, as well to the mayor part of the cast. She is a very beautiful and talented woman.

But what I really loved of the film was the actor who acts that acting. In art and literature, an of course in cinema, this issue has a long tradition. In painting is almost a genre, the studio of the painter. And of course there are lots of examples of the writer who is actually writing the story we are capable to see, thanks to his very actual writing. So, I believe the way the film approaches to the subject is very clever, and soft, I mean it doesn't need lot of "intellectual" dialogs like Allen's films. This one has many funny moments and significant ones. And the similarities that you can find with real life, and the acting world are really well presented.

Almost I enjoyed the performance of the "brother", I expect to see more of his acting.

I'd the opportunity to know a pair of films of this same director, and he is a really good one in the treating of people matters.

A deepest search into human beings

[Alutxe · 7 November 1999]

Santiago, stars Juan Luis Galiardo, is a lonely man in this world. He decides to hire a complete crew of actors on his birthday in order to make them act as his family. Under this unbeliavable and original idea, director Fernando León makes us go inside the feelings of every character, and all the things that happen on this particular birthday... What a great opera prima from León...!!

very funny, excellent comedy

[vincent_brems · 10/10 · 15 March 2002]

This astonishing story of a lonely man who organizes a family birthday with professional actors is a successful comedy. This film is funny and fast. I wonder why it is less known than "4 Weddings and 1 funeral". Maybe because it is not starring Hughes Grant or Andy McDowell.

Artificial movie about an artificial family

[webbobilbao · 2/10 · 23 July 2008]

The best thing of the movie is the basics of the plot: a lonely man hires a group of actors who will "play" his family on his 55th. birthday. That allows Fernando Leon to show some topics of the familiar conversations: sometimes we can feel that those pretended memories or feelings in the family are too similar to the real ones we live in our own families. Those are the best moments of the movie.

Unfortunately, I think that the development of the idea is rather poor. The problem is, in my opinion, the lack of credibility of the movie. I can't believe the human beings behind the actors (while they are not with the protagonist). It "smells" so much to script, to a writer trying to build situations that "make us think, mmmmmmm"!. I suppose it's Leon's style, but I am not fond of it. And actors (except a brilliant -in this role- Juan Luis Galiardo) don't help with their poor acting.