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El regalo de Silvia (2003) [ReUP 2018]

Posted By: Someonelse

Date: 17 Nov 2018 15:02:24

SD / DVD IMDb

Director: Dionisio Pérez
Stars: Bárbara Goenaga, Luis Tosar, Víctor Clavijo

Silvia, an adolescent, has made the most crucial decision in her life; to commit suicide. But before she does so, she makes it clear in her video-diary that she wishes to donate her organs. Carlos, a middle-aged man with uncertain work prospects and the responsibility of a family receives Silvia's heart. Inés, blind from birth and cut off from the world around her receives her corneas, and Mateo, a lonely, misunderstood young man, her liver. Three anonymous people who receive Silvia's gift, a new chance to live. What made Silvia take the decision to end her life? Why is this the solution she yearned for so much, the explanation to her existence and her freedom? Her video-diary and the new lives of Inés, Mateo and Carlos reveal the motives which led Silvia to commit suicide and disappear.

IMDB

In “Silvia’s Gift,” what could easily have been a morbid study of a talented but suicidal teen turns into a gently life-affirming look at three lives pulled back from the brink. Impressively scripted, well-played and thought-provoking, this elegant meditation on sacrifice–effectively three shorts held together by a single controlling idea–signals helmer Dionisio Perez Galindo as a filmmaker to watch if he manages to spread his narrative wings. “Silvia” is the kind of quiet but valuable project that deserves wider exposure than it probably will get, but it reps a real gift for sharp-eyed fest selectors.

El regalo de Silvia (2003) [ReUP 2018]

On the recommendation of her psychiatrist, depressive piano student Silvia (Barbara Goenaga) therapeutically talks to a video about her emotionally unsteady existence. Paradoxically, she’s decided to give her life meaning by committing suicide and offering her eyes, liver and heart to people who need them.

El regalo de Silvia (2003) [ReUP 2018]

Pic intersperses Silvia’s video with three stand-alone narratives, each dealing with a transplant recipient. The first centers on Carlos (Luis Tosar), who is trying to get his family life back on track since he got a new heart. He finds work in a pizza factory, but, when he’s made a foreman and decides to get a new mortgage, the pressures again begin to mount.

The second narrative has Ines (Adriana Dominguez) getting used to having her eyesight back. She recovers her sexuality by befriending the exuberant Macarena (Katyna Huberman) and having an affair with Macarena’s b.f., Roman (Gines Garcia Millan).

El regalo de Silvia (2003) [ReUP 2018]

Meanwhile, hard-living Mateo (Victor Clavijo) leaves prison to start his new life with his transplanted liver, only to revert to his old ways when, in need of money, he goes back to work for stolen car dealer Inaki (Miguel de Lira). Not wishing to lapse, he suggests that teenager Ruben (Pablo Galan) take his place, with tragic consequences.

El regalo de Silvia (2003) [ReUP 2018]

Beneath all the script’s understatement runs a powerful emotional undertow. The Carlos section does a good job of delving into the intimacies of family life, throwing in a strong dose of social comment about workplace difficulties in contempo Spain. (Thesp Tosar makes Carlos an apparent brute with a heart of gold, a role he’s played in all his recent pics.)

El regalo de Silvia (2003) [ReUP 2018]

In film’s most dynamic section, Clavijo is excellent as the naturally aggressive Mateo. Weakest segment is the rather unspecific Ines one, with her passivity and self-doubt bringing things dangerously close to maudlin.

Jorge Aliaga’s delicate, classical-based score neatly generates unexpected juxtapositions between the three tales.
Variety