ReviewThe Weasel’s Tale film review: Argentine dark comedy by The Secret in Their Eyes director is riotously entertaining
- In this homage to Sunset Boulevard, Graciela Borges plays a fading star of cinema’s golden age, who is targeted by a slippery pair of property developers
- A wonderfully dark and funny comedy, it is held together by fantastic performances, especially from Borges
4/5 stars
An ageing starlet of cinema’s golden age is targeted by a pair of opportunistic property developers in Juan José Campanella’s riotously entertaining caper, a loving evocation of Sunset Boulevard and classic Ealing comedies that marks the first live-action feature from the Argentinian since his Oscar-winning thriller, The Secret in Their Eyes .
Mara Ordaz, as portrayed by Graciela Borges, is a once-great leading lady who has since retreated to a remote country estate. She shares this palatial, yet dilapidated abode, itself a decaying shrine to her fading celebrity, with three men, all retired film industry professionals, and all hopelessly devoted to Mara and the home they share.
Her husband, Pedro (Luis Brandoni), was also an actor, until a near-fatal accident confined him to a wheelchair. Norberto (Oscar Martínez) and Martin (Marcos Mundstock) were Mara’s frequent collaborators, respectively director and writer of her greatest roles.
The relationships between these four principals run deep, with decades of secrets, rivalries, and unresolved conflicts lurking just behind the moth-eaten curtains and lying half-buried in the overgrown grounds.