
This film is also Cuaron’s most
personal one. He dedicates the movie to the maid he grew up with in the suburb
of Roma.
I have to admit that when I
watched this film for the first time I thought Cuaron took a gamble. I never
thought that the idea of an indigenous maid would be easily understood by
Europeans, Australians or even most of the non-Spanish speaking portion of the
American population. In these present times, when people keep looking for new
reasons to be offended, the idea of a young woman living only to work and care
about other people for meagre wages could be construed as slavery. I have been
more than amazed about how many people (non-Hispanic) have appreciated the
movie not only for its visual beauty, but for the intense emotional content.
The movie is shot in black and
white to provide a more realistic view of life in the 70’s where Latin American
homes didn’t have access to colour TV yet.
The camera follows Cleo (brilliantly
played by Yelitza Aparicio) as she walks up and down the stairs of the ample
home carrying out a number of chores. She does the laundry, mops the floors,
makes the beds, cooks breakfast and even helps the younger kids to dress for
school. In one of the most beautiful and memorable takes of the movie, the
camera follows her at night when she closes doors, turns off lights and makes
sure the kids are in bed. All in a single take. Then, when the house is silent,
dark and everyone is in bed, Cleo and her friend (another maid) spend the only
few moments they have for themselves after a long day doing some exercises
before going to bed.
The family seemingly treats Cleo
as a maid, a person from another social circle who is there only to serve. The
only one who doesn’t see her in that way is the youngest boy, still too innocent
to understand how his society divides people. Throughout the film we see how
sometimes she is treated harshly and even unfairly but at the same time you get
a sense of the love between Cleo and the whole family.
A crucial moment in the film is
when the family goes to the beach and take Cleo with them. At this point in
time the father had already left his wife for another woman so it’s only the
wife, her mother, Cleo and the kids. As one of the girls is caught by a strong
current Cleo runs into the water and barely saves her from drowning. When the
girl is carried out of the water the whole family embraces and recognise Cleo
as the saviour. It’s a very symbolic moment when she is finally given the place
she deserves as part of the family. It looks like Cuaron needed to openly give
his former maid the recognition he never gave her while living at home.
What really got me about this
movie was the parallelism with my own experience. Cuaron is just a couple of
years older than me so while he was growing up in Mexico I was doing the same
in Caracas. And in my house we had Bertha, an indigenous woman who left her
family behind in a small coastal town to come and live with us. She became my
second mother and has been with our family for 48 years or so. She still lives
with my mum although she has her own quarters including two bedrooms and a
living room where she receives her daughter or sisters from time to time. Her
relationship with my mum in her old age is that of a younger sister who looks
after her. Like any pair of sisters they argue but love each other deeply. I
personally haven’t seen her in 9 years (the time I haven’t set foot in
Venezuela) but speak with her frequently.
To me Bertha signifies stability.
Whenever I went to my mum’s house for a visit and sat in the kitchen, watching
Bertha walk around her workplace, preparing a meal or cleaning dishes, I felt I
was home, and that everything was OK. No matter how troubled I was at work or
in my personal life, Bertha was always there to make me feel calm with a
delicious meal or a flaming hot cup of coffee.
I’ve always felt like I never
gave her back even half of the love she gave me. I feel I owe her. Maybe that’s
also what Cuaron felt hence his tribute movie. To a lesser degree, my humble
tribute to Bertha was including her in my novel “Memoirs of a Good Boy” as the
only completely real character, even using her name. God bless my beautiful
Bertha.
Another significant aspect of
Cleo’s life is the lack of a personal life and her troubled relationships. Her
boyfriend gets her pregnant but doesn’t want to know anything about the baby.
In a beautifully shot but tense scene she delivers a stillborn baby. Cleo grieves her loss in silence, not expecting compassion from anyone. She wrongly believes her life and tragedies are less important due to her social status.
Brilliantly enough, Cuaron decides that the whole family will look after Cleo and finally give her the love and status that she deserves.
There are many other aspects of
the movie worth some consideration. Water is a constant element. The movie
starts with Cleo hosing down the car park where the family dog spends most of
his time. Then there’s the scene where the residents of a farm house the family
was visiting were putting out a fire by passing buckets of water from person to
person. And finally the beach scene. Water washes imperfections? Cleo emerges
from the waters as a saviour? Only Cuaron could answer those questions, I’m
only speculating.
Then there are the references to
the Italian filmmakers of the 60’s (most notably Fellini). The ninja wannabe
boyfriend and the weird training sessions of his made up army in the middle of
nowhere. The man in a (bear?) disguise singing a song in German while the fire
is being put out. Surrealistic images
which give more texture to the movie.
And there’s the small detail of
Yelitza Aparicio’s performance as Cleo. She was so good in her role that it’s
hard to picture her as anything but Cloe. I don’t want to see her in another
role. I want her to remain Cloe for me forever.
Given the social and historic
similarities between my childhood and Cuaron’s as well as the almost identical
profiles of Cleo and Bertha this movie touched me emotionally more than any
other I’ve ever seen. I feel like Cuaron wrote this for me.
Thanks Alfonso, on behalf of the
Jahn family including Bertha.
This is at least my opinion. And
I might be wrong.