OTTplay at BIFFes! Charlotte review: A forgotten diva’s unafraid attempt to revive her career in cinema

3/5

STORY: A vivacious film star of a bygone era, Charlotte makes frantic attempts to land a leading role in an upcoming film that she believes was always meant for her. Her friend Lee remains her constant companion in this journey.

REVIEW: On Women’s Day, the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) dedicated its screens to movies centred on female protagonists. Argentinian director Simón Franco’s eponymous film ​​Charlotte featured among them. Spanning one hour and 19 minutes, the dramedy traces the intrepid endeavour of an actress, who was once famous, to roll back time to be at her prime again.

Charlotte (Ángela Molina) is every bit effervescent, but in sort of a denial that she has now reached the twilight of her career. In a paean to herself, she describes Charlotte as someone who has a “face with bird eyes”, but is often “disturbed by the sounds and memories of the past”. Her eyesight is increasingly deteriorating, but would that dampen her spirits? Quite not! She was living a rather quiet life in a crumbling mansion in the suburbs of Argentina with her equally idiosyncratic, but loyal companion Lee (Ignacio Huang) before everything went berserk one day when she read a piece of news in the local newspaper.

Filmmaker Gaspar Thibert (Gerardo Romano), who was the reason behind her shooting to fame several years ago, is revisiting an old film script, which according to Charlotte, was written keeping her in mind. Now 65, Charlotte sees the making of this film, titled Miniature, as the perfect opportunity to reignite her lost career in cinema. In no time, she arranges for a motorhome and drags a reluctant Lee to accompany her to travel to Paraguay, where the director is thought to be stationed for the time being.

The narrative mostly revolves around their journey, which is punctuated by moments of introspection and compassion; emotional upheavals; meeting with an amateur boxer; and even learning to use a drone camera. Ironically, along the way, Charlotte also finds herself agreeing to be part of an anti-ageing cream commercial to finance their trip. Marred by several difficulties and mishaps while trying to pin down the filmmaker, she even gets arrested at one point.

It’s endearing to see the tenderness and understanding between Lee and the protagonist, mostly when they try to strike a conversation through the phone while sitting next to each other. Always trying to memorise her lines, Charlotte is shown as a dedicated artist, who truly loves her craft. Ángela dazzles in the titular role, but her character could have been fleshed out a little more to exemplify her fortitude and endurance. Overall, the narrative lacks depth, and so the film fails to make an impact that a script like this has the potential for. You will love the humorous banters between Charlotte and Lee through the length of the movie, but that’s all about it. After all the trouble they took to make this road trip possible, the ending seemed damp and far from stirring. The film is well-intentioned but not very profound.

VERDICT: Unless you are a fan of the veteran Spanish star Ángela, the film is a good one-time watch only. The quirks of Lee and his love for noodles make a few scenes comforting though.

*Reema Gowalla is an independent arts and culture journalist, who mostly writes about theatre and indie cinema, and sometimes also delves into culinary heritage.