Dominga Sotomayor's Cannes Drama 'La Perra' Explores the Complexities of Motherhood and Domestication
Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor is back at Cannes with her latest film, 'La Perra', a tender drama that explores the complex relationship between a woman and a stray puppy. The film, based on Pilar Quintana's eponymous book, stars Manuela Oyarzún as Silvia, a woman whose quiet life on a remote island off the Chilean coast is disrupted by the arrival of a stray puppy named Yuri.
What makes 'La Perra' particularly fascinating is Sotomayor's exploration of the relationship between humans and animals, and the complex emotions that arise from it. In my opinion, the film's strength lies in its ability to delve into the psychological and emotional depths of its characters, particularly Silvia's longing for motherhood and her childhood trauma.
One of the key changes Sotomayor made for her adaptation was setting the story on a windy island off the southern coast of Chile, rather than in the depths of the Colombian jungle. This change was deliberate, as Sotomayor wanted to create a sense of place that felt both foreign and familiar to the audience. As she explains, 'It was important to find the right place because my films have always been tied to their location. When we heard about this island called Santa María, it was such a special encounter because it also felt foreign to me as a Chilean, as it is a place that doesn't really feel like Chile. It also had a super curious local culture, like every island, so we decided to work the island into the story.'
Sotomayor's exploration of the relationship between humans and animals is particularly intriguing. She notes that 'We project so many human feelings onto dogs, but then, in a split second, it bites someone, and we are confronted with the reality that this is an animal, and we can't control its nature.' This idea of domestication and the relationship we have with animals is a central theme in the film, and it's fascinating to see how Sotomayor uses the puppy Yuri to explore these complex emotions.
Another interesting aspect of 'La Perra' is the way Sotomayor approaches the subject of motherhood. While the book goes deeper into Silvia's relationship to motherhood, Sotomayor wanted to broach the subject with a certain subtlety on screen. As she explains, 'I naturally connected to this idea of this woman who could not become a mother and named a dog after the daughter she never had, but I felt cinema doesn't need to overexplain. It was more interesting to me to investigate this deeper connection she felt to motherhood. The dog doesn’t stand for a child she never had, but something much more beautiful, which is opening this connection to feelings of delayed motherhood and a search for identity.'
The film also features a key flashback that ties present Silvia to a jarring trauma from her childhood, played by Brazilian star Selton Mello. Mello's performance is particularly noteworthy, as he brings a sense of foreignness to the film without pandering to the clichés of white Europeans arriving in Latin America. As Mello explains, 'I was already a huge fan of Dominga’s work and how she crafts such sensitive films with a very particular, refined way of looking at the world.'
In my opinion, 'La Perra' is a thought-provoking exploration of the complexities of motherhood and domestication. Sotomayor's ability to delve into the psychological and emotional depths of her characters, and her use of the puppy Yuri to explore these complex emotions, make the film a must-see for anyone interested in the relationship between humans and animals. As Sotomayor emphasizes, 'It is very impressive for a country like Chile, that has a very small, very precarious industry, to have this presence in Cannes. There are only five Latin American films in the program and two are from Chile and directed by women, which I think deserves to be celebrated.'
In conclusion, 'La Perra' is a powerful and thought-provoking film that explores the complexities of motherhood and domestication. Sotomayor's ability to delve into the psychological and emotional depths of her characters, and her use of the puppy Yuri to explore these complex emotions, make the film a must-see for anyone interested in the relationship between humans and animals. As she emphasizes, 'It is the byproduct of a continuous effort by film producers and the government to support Chilean cinema. At a moment when cultural funding is at risk, it is super important to emphasize these are not isolated talents, it is not luck, it is the result of several years of work supporting the development of an industry.'
