A delicate and imaginative work as three female voices share the ‘composite’ body of an elderly woman who must confront her traumatic past to liberate herself for one last hurrah at an optimistic future.
Review #2,813
Dir. Antonella Sudasassi Furniss
2024 | Costa Rica, Spain | Docu-Drama | 90 min | 2.35:1 | Spanish
M18 (passed clean) for sexual scene and some mature content
Cast: Sol Carballo, Paulina Bernini Víquez, Juliana Filloy
Plot: Repression and taboos have shaped the image of womanhood for Ana (68), Patricia (69) and Mayela (71). Their stories poetically combine to form a kaleidoscope of memories, secrets and longings that are incarnated by another woman’s body.
Awards: Won Panorama Audience Award (Berlinale)
International Sales: Bendita Film Sales
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Slightly Mature – Womanhood; Ageing & Mortality; Toxic Patriarchy & Personal Trauma
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: General Arthouse
Viewed: Screener (as part of Singapore Film Society Showcase)
Spoilers: No
Winner of the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award, Memories of a Burning Body is, according to many who saw the film at the festival, one of the discoveries of the year, but it may very well still go under the radar.
A sophomore work by Costa Rican writer-director Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, whose first feature, The Awakening of the Ants (2019), also world-premiered at the Berlinale, Memories is a delicate and imaginative work about what has been left unsaid for decades: the recollections of mostly traumatic memories of women who, now in their old age, find the courage to revisit the past and liberate themselves for one last hurrah at an optimistic future.
In the deeply patriarchal society of Costa Rica, girls and women are told what to do and how to behave by men—and even by their mothers who enforce strict gender codes, including accepting guilt and shame.
But in Furniss’ intricately constructed docu-drama, which is narrated by three voices of real women in their silver years, we get to see a ‘composite’ figure, played by an elderly woman who is learning how to date and enjoy romantic relationships again.
“I always thank God for not having been born male. Being a woman is beautiful.”
As she remembers her younger days as a schoolgirl having a crush on a boy, learning about sex, or getting married and having a child, we see the director play with conflating realities.
With sublime execution, Furniss sets the film mostly in a house that this woman has lived in for decades. As her younger selves intertwine through flashbacks, this space of oppression—and even abuse—becomes a conduit for a kind of self (and also collective) psychoanalysis.
Memories straddles between creative reenactments and raw, documentary confessions of pain. While it may go into somewhat frank and explicit territory, the film never loses sight of its intent in capturing the vulnerability but also the strength of women who want to live their best lives when they still have a chance.
This would make a fascinating double-bill with the Sundance award-winning Estonian documentary, Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023).
Grade: B+
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 
Great reviews as always. I have never heard of this movie before, but your review compels me to check it out. I am fascinated with stories of women embarking on journeys to find their identity, and this seems to be one of them. The concept behind the film focusing on groups of women searching for identity reminds me a lot of Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women”. Obviously, the two movies are different in language. That being said, they do share common themes of womanhood, identity and childhood. I absolutely adored Gerwig’s film which is one of my favorite movies of all-time. So, I will check out “Memories of a Burning Body” when I find the time. Thanks for the recommendation.
Here’s my thoughts on “Little Women”:
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