Review by Anne Wollenberg
Stars Monica del Carmen, Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Armando Hernández, Diego Chas, Ernesto González, Bertha Mendiola, José Juan Meraz, Nur Rubio
Written by Lucia Carreras and Michael Rowe
Certification UK TBC
Runtime 92 minutes
Directed by Michael Rowe
Not to be confused with the Amy Adams romcom, Australian director Rowe's debut – which won the Camera D'Or prize at Cannes – invites a myriad of readings. Is this a tale of sexual empowerment or degradation? Is it misogynistic or erotic? Interpretation is, to some extent, dependent on the audience's own innocence vs. experience, because this is a film that asks you to watch someone else's private experiences and fill in the blanks as to exactly how they have come about. What choice, then, has anyone but to project their own ideals onto the scenes that unfold? Leap Year makes voyeurs of its viewers, but does it also make them misogynists?
The film follows Laura (del Carmen), a freelance journalist in mourning for her father, who died four years previously. Her life is a mixture of solitary days spent working at home, casual sex with strangers and the odd visit from her brother, although the lies that frequently slip out of her mouth suggest that she does, in fact, lead an exciting and colourful life, when really this is just wishful thinking. The film takes place almost entirely inside her apartment, putting the boot into the sense of loneliness and isolation.
Then Laura strikes up a relationship with Arturo (Sánchez Parra), one that escalates from a bit of simple S&M into deeper and darker territory. It's here that the audience is asked to pass judgement without being in possession of the facts. Is this relationship as brutal and cruel as some may assume? What is and is not a choice? Who is really in control? The gender dynamic may invite some simplistic assertions, though it would be naive to write this off as mere misogynistic violence. It's still hard to stomach in places, though, and at times Rowe shows us far more than we need to see.