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Graciela Borges, Martin Adjemian, Juan Cruz Bordeu, Daniel Valenzuela, Mercedes Morán ... see more see more... , Andrea Lopez , Leonora Balcarce , Maria Micol Ellero , Noelia Bravo Herrera , Silvia Bayle , Sofia Bertolotto

Two families try to make the best of a bad situation as they suffer through a crippling heat wave in this neo-realistic drama, featuring a primarily non-professional cast. Tali (Mercedes Moran) is min... read more read more...ding four small children with little help from her husband, who is preoccupied with the opening of hunting season, as a record hot spell grips Argentina. Things aren't much better for her cousin Mecha (Graciela Borges), who is looking after four teenagers and a husband (Martin Adjemian) who can hardly be bothered to help out, but Mecha does have a pool, even if it hasn't been cleaned in quite a while. Tali and her brood end up spending much of the summer with Mecha as the town is riveted by the appearance of the Virgin Carmen on the city's water tower, and a series of thunderstorms add an awful humidity to the summer's unbearable heat. While seemingly improvised, La Cienaga was actually carefully scripted by Lucrecia Martel, who won a screenwriting award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival prior to making her directorial debut with this feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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78% liked it

1,269 ratings

Critics

86% liked it

36 critics

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Lucrecia Martel

Release Date: October 3, 2001

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DVD Release Date: February 1, 2005

Stats: 88 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (88)

  • rubystevens
    May 24, 2011
    rubystevens
    this film is one of those discomfort making works like mike leigh's naked or solondz' happiness. the study of a bourgeois family on vacation, mostly having a miserable time: there's no real plot here but the ending, when it comes, seems inevitable. rather stunning for a debut ... read morefilm. be warned: there are virtually no likeable characters. i'd love to see more of martel's work
  • ebs90
    June 30, 2008
    ebs90
    La Cienaga is the story of two bourgeoise families on a summer vacation in their country house in Argentina. Alone, isolated from urban life, unavoidably close to each other, the family members face their own decadance as a group and push themselves, inentionally or not, to the t... read morehe verge of complete domestic destruction. Nothing works: they don't understand each other, don't like each other, can't stand each other.

    The mother is sick, and so sick of life that she prefers to remain sick in bed rather than keep living like she used to. The father is an detached figure in a corner. The brothers and sisters are, of course, in the wake, the middle, or the end of adolescence, with all its respective problems and dilemmas. The other family contains a shallow, overworking mother, a taciturn, passive father, and their little children.

    The Swamp is crowded, and noisy; Lucrecia Martel perfectly translates the sticky and unconfortable sensation of humid hot weather, the smell of wet vegetation, dirty pools, brown-water rivers, and the phony cool of electric fans all over the place. All actors and actresses are excellent in their roles, and it's beautifully shot, making the most out of inanimate objects jus as well as characters doing superficial, day-to-day tasks, to create that unconfortable atmosphere of familiar-but-uncertain. Although it lacks a plot per se, there's an everpresent feeling that what is happening is leading someplace. Martel also masterfully creates sexual tension, loads of it, in a film where no sex takes place whatsoever, and where all the characters are, well, related. Regardless of whether it's awkward, Martel goes for it because it's real.

    La Cienaga a slow-paced, rambling study of the human condition that builds tension until the unavoidable ending. GREAT. One of the best Argentinian films I've seen.
  • littlecharmer1959
    December 12, 2008
    littlecharmer1959
    A very promising debut from Lucrecia Martel. No real plot but that doesn't matter when it's such a great study a family life. Beautifully shot also.
  • GringoTex
    August 14, 2009
    GringoTex
    I have never seen a more authentic representation of bourgeoisie vacation in Latin America, of the child/nanny relationship, or of a gaggle of kids. Lucrecia Martel is the Cassavetes/Truffaut of her time and place. She builds her entire narrative on the near-abstraction of faces ... read moreand bodies (like Cassavetes) all tied up in the tender spaces of Truffaut.

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Critic Reviews

Eric Harrison
February 15, 2002
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

Experiencing this film ultimately becomes as stimulating as watching metal rust. Full Review

Chris Vognar
December 13, 2001
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

There's a real energy in the way that La Cienaga takes nothing for granted -- except your attention and your intelligence. Full Review

Geoff Pevere
November 30, 2001
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

A strikingly well-directed, relentlessly dreary debut feature from Argentine director Lucrecia Martel. Full Review

Rick Groen
November 30, 2001
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Look closely and you'll find something not often present in your average art-house flick -- a hint, intense and unsettling, of art itself. Full Review

Jay Carr
November 2, 2001
Jay Carr, Boston Globe

The triumph of La Cienaga lies in Martel's way of fashioning the kind of ensemble performance that draws us in by convincing us we're watching behavior, not acting.

Roger Ebert
October 19, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

By its end we are glad to see the last of most of its characters, but we will not quickly forget them. Full Review

Patrick Z. McGavin
October 18, 2001
Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune

A film that has an extraordinary cumulative power. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
October 12, 2001
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

A subtle yet acute observation of upper-middle-class decay. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
October 11, 2001
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

There may be whispers of reality to this abandon- all-hope vision of Argentina, but it's a truth presented didactically, without eloquence, vitality, or a mordant glimmer of spirit. Full Review

Jan Stuart
October 4, 2001
Jan Stuart, Newsday

It's entrancing and unsettling at the same time, the kind of film that makes you feel decadent just for bearing witness. Full Review

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