Dir. Pablo Larrain, Chile / Germany/Mexico, 2010, 98mins, in Spanish with subtitles
Cast: Alfredo Castro, Marcelo Alonso, Amparo Noguera
Review by Christopher Upton
There are a few things in this world that could reasonably be classed as impossible. Now alongside time travel, you can add to that list successfully portraying on film the unrequited love of a semi-mute mortician in an engaging way. Post Mortem doesn’t help matters by attempting to somehow fit this non-romance into the backdrop of the Chilean revolt. But while the film may take on more than it can feasibly handle, at times it still stands up as an interesting if depressing look at pervasive loneliness.
Mario (Castro) works in a morgue, where the endless stream of cadavers is visibly affecting his temperament; he spends most of his time staggering around in a depressive haze. That is until he meets Nancy (Zegers), a prematurely aged cabaret performer, with whom he becomes infatuated. Unfortunately for Mario, any semblance of romance is put on hold by the beginning of the Chilean revolution. Suddenly Mario finds himself promoted to working for the military, while simultaneously trying to protect Nancy from being captured by his employers.
The relationship between the two main characters here could come off as quite sadistic; Mario has completely enveloped himself within a fake-love dream world and Nancy is using this to shamelessly take advantage of him. But as the film wears on, it appears to be more of an exercise in masochism. After spending so much of his time alone Mario forces his mind to create this fictional relationship, and although it is surely obvious to him that Nancy’s interest in him has nothing to do with biology, he punishes himself for missing opportunities to ingratiate himself to her.
While Pablo Larrain has obviously spent a lot of time getting to know his main characters, he does not appear to have given his background the same level of intricate analysis. The revolt was and is undoubtedly a massively important event for the people of Chile. However as featured in Post Mortem it seems more like it has been crowbarred into the film, apparently to provide one of the characters with an excuse to remain sequestered within some dingy basement for most of the running time.
There are hints that the war is affecting the characters in deeper ways than we can fathom, but without the necessary character signposts these become nothing but oblique references to something known only to the director and actors. Not that films have to explain everything at every turn, but providing more adequate justification for setting Post Mortem in this turbulent period of Chilean history would certainly have helped.
While it may have more things going against it than for, it would not be fair to say that Post Mortem is something you shouldn’t see. The ending is suitably shocking and cathartic and it’s amazing to see just how much a person will put up with in order to try and end their loneliness. Overall though, you can’t help but feel that had Larrain spent his time on fewer tangents, it might have been easier to tie everything up come the film’s finale.
