A thriller that is not exactly a thriller. This seems to be the purpose of The Long Shadows of Clara Roquet (Freedom). It is structured around a mystery that resists the most basic drives of the genre.
The Catalan director does not want to create tension around suspicion but, based on intimate realism, seeks tension in the drama of the main characters: the seven women affected by the appearance of mortal remains in a cave in Mallorca, that belong to a girl who disappeared 25 years ago.
Rita Montero (Elena Anaya), who has made a name for herself on the international circuit as a director, returns to her town on the Valencian coast to sell her late mother’s house. She remains distant from her school friends because of something that happened during the end-of-year trip to Mallorca.
He wants the stay to be brief and painless, but the plan goes awry when they find the body of Mati (Laura Wedel), who went to their class and whom they detested. Inspector Paula Ríos (Irene Escolar), sister of the deceased, becomes obsessed with knowing what happened to Mati, who they had said had run away with a Frenchman.
The substance of the work lies not so much in revealing what happened that night in the late 90s, when Dover was playing in the bars, but in understanding the mental framework, traumas and conflicts of each of them: the story understands the complexity of the female experience, following a path that is reminiscent of extraordinary series such as Big little lies or Intimacy.
The cast completed by Belén Cuesta, Marta Etura, Itziar Atienza, Ana Rayo, Roger Casamajor and Lorena López is at the height of the sensitivity of Roquet’s camera: especially Anaya, with a vulnerable, strong and sweet look that she knew how to exploit so well. in the recent Jaula by Ignacio Tatay.
