The Fish Child (2009)

A desperate love story between two young girls of extremely different social backgrounds who, unable to find a place for their love in the world they live in, are pushed to commit a crime.

Director:

Lucía Puenzo

Writers:

Lucía Puenzo (screenplay), Lucía Puenzo (novel)

Stars:

Inés Efron, Mariela Vitale, Pep Munné

5 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Inés Efron	...	Lala
Mariela Vitale	...	La Guayi (as Mariela Vitale Emme)
Pep Munné	...	El juez Bronté
Diego Velázquez	...	El Vasco
Carlos Bardem	...	Comisario Pulido
Arnaldo André	...	Sócrates Espina
Ailín Salas	...	la Guayi niña
Sandra Guida	...	Felicitas
Julián Doregger	...	Nacho
Paloma Contreras	...	La Chapulina
Darío Valenzuela	...	Guida
Jerónimo Perassolo	...	El niño pez
Marco Vera	...	Animador en la bailanta
Sergio Lapegüe	...	Conductor del noticiero
Pedro Di Salvia

Storyline

Lala, a teenager from the most exclusive suburban neighborhood in Argentina is in love with the Guayi, the 20-year-old Payaguayan maid working at her place. They dream of living together in Paraguay, at the shores of lake Ypoá. Robbing every purse and wallet in the house to fulfill their dream, hiding the money in a shoe box. But when the box is full, it bursts, fueled by desire, jealousy and rage. This is the starting point that spurs the escape through the highway that connects the North of Buenos Aires with Paraguay. While Lala waits to be reunited with her lover in Ypoá by reconstructing her past (the mystery surrounding her pregnancy and the legend of a fish child who guides the drowned to the bottom of the lake), the Guayi is detained in a minors institute in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She turns out to be hiding a crime from long ago.

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Plot Keywords:

two women in bath tub | love | paraguay | lake | jealousy | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Argentina France Spain

Language:

Spanish Guarani

Release Date:

9 April 2009 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

The Fish Child

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$233,461

Company Credits

Production Co:

Historias Cinematograficas Cinemania, Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Re Ke Magua
Written by Verónica Condomi

User Reviews

fails to deliver on its promises

excerpt, full review at my location - The writer/director of the synopsis- defying Argentine intersexuality melodrama XXY follows up her directorial debut with this adaptation of her own novel. With Inés Efron returning as another gay protagonist, Puenzo this time treads more traditional ground with her lesbian noir drama, but is the result Argentina's answer to the Wachowshi brothers' Bound or a case of a difficult second album depreciating the promise of the first?

There's plenty of intrigue in this film for it to be of interest, and while it often fails to deliver on its promises, Lucía Puenzo is not on the list of Argentine directors you'd be wise to ignore. But given her impressive prior work, The Fish Child represents an overall disappointing work from an artist we've been given reason to expect more from.