
Las Meninas
Seen it?2009 | 99 min | Drama
Why it’s a Weeknight Watch
With almost no lasting buzz and mixed reviews, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.
Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.Is it for you?
- Who'll love it
- If you count yourself among people who love a good family story and anyone who likes a story with emotional weight, this one's for you. Anyone with siblings or parents will recognize something here.
- The mood
- Thoughtful and character-driven.
- The pace
- Character-first and patient, at 1 hr 39 min.
- What might put you off
- It's in another language, so expect subtitles (or a dub).
- Not the one if you want explosions or easy laughs.
This film is about what the routine of everyday life can do to the human mind and psyche. It also reflects on the importance of the choices we make and how limited these choices are in the first place. The plot evolves around a family of four. They live in the suburbs, in a strange villa that appears, through a complex game of mirrors, to be more like a piece of installation art than a real house. The main character, who hardly appears on screen, is the son, a man in his thirties. Suffering from asthma and eczema since childhood, he uses his condition to manipulate his parents and his sister. Thus the existence of the terrorized family turns into an endless ritual of attempting to satisfy his whims, and always on the alert for yet another one of his “health crises”. Las Meninas resembles the scattered pieces of a puzzle. It is up to the viewer to assemble them in order to form his very own picture – something that makes the film itself personal and unique.
How it earned its rating
- CriticsBelow par
Mixed reviews
- AudiencesNot counted
Not measured yet: not enough ratings
- AwardsNot counted
No major awards or nominations
- Reach & staying powerBelow par
Streaming release that reached a small audience so far; still draws a steady audience long after release
- Buzz & cultural impactWeak
About 863 people sought it out in the past year
Trailer
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Cast & crew
Directed by Ihor Podolchak
- Mykola VeresenFather
- Liubov TymoshevskaMother
- Hanna YarovenkoDaughter
- Dmytro ChernyavskySon
- Ilona ArsentievaYoung Daughter
- Stas ArsentievYoung Son
- Valeriya UlyanchenkoYoung Mother 1
- Viktoriya UlyanchenkoYoung Mother 2