News

Empty Nest

• Written and directed by Daniel Burman
• Starring Oscar Martinez and Cecilia Roth
• Classification: PG

There is one little problem with the Argentine drama Empty Nest , an all-too-convincing film about a man suffering from a middle-aged malaise: Nothing of interest happens.

The film is by Daniel Burman, a filmmaker in his 30s who has been compared to Woody Allen for the trio of semi-autobiographical films he produced in the last 10 years. He has described his latest as an exercise in forward projection, examining the difficulties of an artist in his 50s, Leonardo (Oscar Martinez), who is forced to cope with the various forms of loss that come with age.

When his daughter Julia (Ines Efron), the youngest of his three children, moves to Israel with her new novelist husband, Leonardo feels an emotional void. In contrast, his wife Martha (Cecilia Roth) discovers a new zest for life. She goes to group therapy, enrolls in university and starts reliving her bohemian youth. And she has become understandably frustrated with his artistic preciousness: “Your stupid face every time you're asked about your profession!” she says in exasperation.

With the kids out of the house, she can finally let loose: “I'm shouting,” she says, “Because now I can!”

Leonardo finds some consolation in a neurologist (Arturo Goetz) he meets, who tells him about a form of dementia where people experience “their deepest desires and fantasies as if they were real, as if they had been fulfilled.”

Almost to illustrate the point, the neurologist occasionally pops up in unlikely contexts to offer Leonardo advice.

At the local writers' guild office, he runs into a colleague who has had a brain hemorrhage and can no longer write.

“I can't use my head any more,” he says.

“So what do you do?” asks Leonardo.

“I'm in advertising,” the friend explains.

It's a small joke that gets extended. Leonardo begins half-heartedly scribbling some advertising ideas in the margins of his son-in-law's manuscript.

He also begins a fantasy life, centred on the pretty young dentist, Violeta (Eugenia Capizzano), who is repairing his crumbling molars. She suggests that he needs braces, and he asks if he can get the invisible kind.

“They're only recommended for famous people, where appearance counts,” she says.

Another wry little joke, but Leonardo nevertheless insists on the complex procedure so he can continue visiting her and gazing down her smock. In his fantasy, he pursues her through a shopping mall to the music of Ravel's Bolero (a weak choice, reminiscent of Blake Edwards's 10 ). The fantasy sequences, which occur occasionally, often involve unremarkable visions of flying a red remote-controlled airplane. Otherwise, Leonardo frets about croissants and second-hand smoke.

With no real dramatic interest, the film depends on its handsome production values and languid flow. Burman's fluid use of a handheld camera, and smartly chosen jazz and bossa nova tunes also carry it along. As Leonardo, Martinez has an element of doleful bewilderment that echoes Marcello Mastroianni, which only emphasizes the film's watered-down, sub-Fellini quality.

In contrast, Roth (the star of Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother ) is so vivacious and attractive it's difficult to comprehend Leonardo's problem with finally getting her all to himself. His only real crisis appears to be that he's bored.

That leads us to the biggest conundrum about Empty Nest : Why was the film about Leonardo and not his much more interesting spouse?