Unconscious

Colour, 35 mm
Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, 2004, 108 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Barcelona, 1913. An actress with a persecution complex; a psychotic woman who’s trying to kill her husband; a woman in a deep sexual identity crisis; and a foreigner who has just discovered a terrible secret from her past.... These are the four key patients that psychiatrist Leon Pardo used for his unfinished study dealing with hysteria and female sexuality. The manuscript he left behind is the only clue to discovering why he suddenly decided to abandon his pregnant wife Alma and disappear as if off the face of the earth. It happened after visiting Vienna; there he discovered Sigmund Freud and his scandalous theories. Alma, however, is determined to find her husband, and with the help of her brother-in-law Salvador, likewise a psychiatrist, she launches an investigation that blends together hypnosis, love, danger and every taboo imaginable.... Alma is played by Leonor Watling, known from Pedro Almodóvar’s two last films Talk to Her and Bad Education.

About the director

Joaquín Oristrell (b. 1958, Barcelona) has written 20 comedies since 1989, some of which have aired on Czech Television: Antonio Mercero’s Don Juan, My Dear Ghost (Don Juan, mi querido fantasma, 1990) and Salsa rosa (1992), directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira. Indeed, he has written for Pereira most often, including Why Do They Call It Love When They Mean Sex? (¿Por qué lo llaman amor cuando quieren decir sexo?, 1993), Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health (El amor perjudica seriamente la salud, 1997), and Cosas que hacen que la vida valga la pena (2004). He debuted as a director with What Makes Women Laugh? (¿De qué se ríen las mujeres?, 1997), followed by Novios (1999), No Shame (Sin verguenza, 2003), Los abajo firmantes (2003), and Unconscious (Inconscientes, 2004). Oristrell took part in a project with 33 other Spanish directors, Hay motivo! (2004), a mosaic of contemporary Spain.