The Swamp

La ciénaga

This assured first feature puts a troubled bourgeois extended family under a microscope.

  • Director

    Lucrecia Martel

  • With

    Mercedes Morán, Graciela Borges, Martín Adjemián

  • Argentina 2001. 100min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    12A

  • English subtitles

Simmering tensions and looming menace dominate Mecha and her extended family’s stay in a dilapidated villa over the course of an unbearably hot summer holiday. Stifled desires, personal animosities and class resentments are explored in this bleak Buñuel-esque drama. With its inventive approach to the narrative structure and a radical pairing of sound and image, Martel’s film remains one of the most impressive debuts of this century.

The screening of The Swamp on Wednesday 5 March 18:10 NFT2 will be introduced by Aga Baranowska, Events Programmer.