Release Date: April 14, 2006
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality and language
Directed by: Ricardo de Montreuil
Starring: Bárbara Mori, Christian Meier, Manolo Cardona, Gaby Espino, Bruno Bichir, Angélica Aragón, Beto Cuevas
Plot:
After almost ten years of marriage, the stunningly attractive Zoe realizes that her marriage to Ignacio no longer carries the passion and spark it once had. Emotionally adrift, she is left to search for those sensations once again, and soon finds herself seduced into the arms of Gonzalo, her husband's brother. At first, Zoe becomes reinvigorated by the romance. But her decision soon launches a series of events that drives these three people through a gauntlet of revenge, secret and despair that will unravel them all.
Review:
La Mujer de Mi Hermano is a foreign film directed by fairly young Peruian, Ricardo de Montreuil. This film is his first full length feature and the films language is Spanish. The entire cast of La Mujer de Mi Hermano are Hispanic and the film is presented with English subtitles. The subtitles falls as no problem because 2004's Maria Full of Grace was presented with the same, but that film is fantastic cinema. Unfortunately for this film its nothing more than the middle of the road, it has something going for it, but also a lot of things not going for it.
The title translated in English is "The Woman of my Brother". The title of this film is very misleading because it almost seems like the main character is going to be Gonzalo, who is played by Manolo Cardona. Gonzalo is Ignacio's brother who is played by Christian Meier and is the husband of actress Bárbara Mori who plays the character named Zoe. Yet, the main character is Zoe, it follows the lacking passion and sex that her marriage needs. After ten years of marriage, she begins to find Ignacios brother appealing.
La Mujer de Mi Hermano is a film mainly about discovery, honesty, betrayal, among other things. One thing this film was not is Love and thats something that is missing throughout and its something that was not in its conclusion. This film plays out almost like the couple is acting and while they say they love each other, there is some hidden secrets that need to be spoken. Before La Mujer de Mi Hermano can earn any of this, it would benefit it if it had some decent character development, but instead from its opening scene it starts quickly.
Where this film fails is in where exactly do these people work and how do they have so much free time. We know Gonzalo sells paintings, but what does Zoe do for a living, is she a housewife, does she have a job, no explanation here. The film mentions the factory job that Ignacio has, but there is not one scene of him on duty. This is a sign of a poorly written screenplay by Jaime Bayly. Along with the writing, Montreuil's directing is made to be far less effective than it could have been. A film that should have been serious and emotional, instead is a film that is at times laughable.
What we get in La Mujer de Mi Hermano is a conclusion that is fairly predictable and questions many things that occurred beforehand. There are memorable quotes in this film though and at times its very involving. However, there are too many instances that you wonder where the film will go next, but it stays in one place the whole time, making it disappointing. La Mujer de Mi Hermano does have nice scenery and moments where the dialogue is intriguing. Even with this, you notice that it is underdeveloped.
When La Mujer de Mi Hermano comes to an end, its a conclusion that could have been stronger had the film earned it respectfully. Without spoiling anything, the film begs the question is it worth it and how much of it is true and how much of it is acting. The characters change in this film and Gonzalo's especially is very deceiving. Its almost like he is a complete lie and whatever comes out of his mouth cannot be believed. There have been far better foreign films than La Mujer De Mi Hermano. While not a bad film, La Mujer de Mi Hermano is lacking many elements to make it a good one.
