Suddenly

Our Rating: L Factor: Major lesbian characters Short Take: Two Argentinean women abduct a straight woman at knifepoint to force her to have sex with one of them. Alternate Titles: Tan de repente
Year: 2002 Duration: 90 min Language: Argentina, Netherlands/Spanish MPAA: Not Rated	Director: Diego Lerman Writer: Cesar Aira, Diego Lerman Starring: Tatiana Saphir, Carla Crespo, Veronica Hassan, Beatriz Thibaudin, Maria Merlino, Marcos Ferrante, Ana Maria Martinez, Susana Pampin, Luis Herrera, Laura Mantel

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From Argentina, in black and white. Marcia (Tatiana Saphir) works in a lingerie store in Buenos Aires, bored with life and the little stimulation that seems to come her way. All of that changes when lovers Lenin (Veronica Hassan) and Mao (Carla Crespo) spot her on the street.

Mao propositions Marcia for sex, and when she refuses, Lenin pulls a knife on her. The two abductors are cruel and manipulative, lacking any sort of empathy. After they steal a taxi and drive to the sea, Marcia is untied and then goes along for the ride during a weekend of hitchhiking around.

Mao convinces Marcia that she really does care for her, and they finally make love. But it was all part of the game, and Mao further humiliates Marcia afterwards, specifically in relation to her weight. It’s actually Lenin who becomes more human in the end.

This film simply irritated me throughout, with unbelievable characters who may have worked if they were men, but not as women. Lesbians who abduct a straight woman at knifepoint for sex and a victim who just lets it all happen? Unlikely, and something one might expect in a comic pulp novel rather than an art house film (from a male writer/director). (AB)