Un Rayo Del Sol
On Sex and Lucia
Director Julio
Medem
Writer Julio
Medem
Stars Paz
Vega, Tristan
Ulloa, Najwa
Nimri, Daniel
Freyre, Elena
Anaya, Silvia
Llanos, Javier
Camara
Made Spain 2002
Like a dream crawls into his life: “Lucia”, grips his hands, his heart and finally his whole life and captures him not only for a moment but also for days and days to come. Lorenzo, captured by Lucia, her enjoyable existence, her unique passion for sex is going through a new phase in his life. This phase coincides with writing of his first novel. The novel that brought Lucia to his life. She liked his work to the extent of waiting for him in a bar just to simply propose that she wants to live with him. Sounds simple, hah?
Yes, sounds simple and kind of ordinary, disregarding the happy, content character of Lucia that shines like un rayo del sol (a ray of sun) in this creation of Julio Medem. Sounds like a porn movie if we do not want to see what Lucia is offering him is a unique expression of her love for him. A way that makes them so intimate despite the freshness of their encounter. A way that kind of makes them get so absorbed in the mechanics of this physical proximity that they forget to talk out their souls. And we see this when Lucia reads the manuscripts (well, I mean the print outs!) of Lorenzo’s second novel and sad to say that she finds it, him, the story far and far away.
Lorenzo is disappointed, feels so far from Lucia. His writing that had won Lucia the first time seems nothing but a repellant weapon now. And we see that he does not have to search much to find a way to change his writing. He just has to wait to find his connections to his past, to the time before Lucia or at least let the past contacts him.
Seems like any settled, mutual love relationship. You are happy that you are not alone, that you have the love of your life. Yet, you long for the past, when this other was not with you. When life had so much mystery and adventure hidden inside.
And soon, destiny comes his way, on the night of his 30th anniversary, when looking at the shining eyes of Lucia under the light of his birthday cake candles, he learns of a past yet unforgotten story.
Six years ago, he was alone in the island, kind of a land of infinity, where the time has lost its meaning, where a refuge can be sought for artists and criminals who escape every one but their soul. Near a night lantern, Lorenzo enters the warm waters of the sea. Under the moonlight, such a full bright moon as big as a snowy ball, he is not alone. There is a female character. They do not know each other. They just have one thing in common. They have both fallen in the hole near the night lantern like the whirlpool of a drug in their mind that illuminates the life for some time and vanishes. Such a banal commonality leads them to experience their bodies, to try the ultimate limit of earthly satisfaction of their reproductive organs in the wildest manner possible. They want to leave each other and let this night wrap under the mystery of time. Yet, each gives the other one three signs.
And now after all these years, Lorenzo learns about the result of that night ecstasy: Luna. A young girl with light, blonde hair, the motivation that changes the course of his story. Now the second novel is going well, Lucia traces it with all her heart, not knowing that Lorenzo is live and active playing behind the scenes. She never knows this and never knows about that suffering behind Lorenzo’s behavior. She never learns till she faces his unexpected death.
Goes to the island, Lucia with a broken heart and an occupied mind, with a mystery in his heart and with unspoken questions on her lips. She meets Elena, stays with her, becomes friend with her, stands by her till the day that Lorenzo, not dead but hospitalized comes to the island and finds her. It all ties together to bring her back to that happiness of living under un rayo del sol. We never know if she will stay happy with that. May be she will, considering her calmness and the fact that she is a gift to the earth.
The symbolic movie, relies heavily on the sex content to portray how small this world is, how we all meet each other again at some point of this circular life and how your past never leaves you. It just stands on that corner to grip your neck heavily and see if you can survive or not. It reminds me of the tender lightness of being by Kondra when she expresses her sufferings from Toma sexual relationships in form of her dreams (rather nightmares!).
It is soft, obviously symbolic with memorable surreal imagery and gusty performances, yet very sexy and wildly sexy. To the point that can sell well as sex sells well. If you fall for its surrealism, its oblique, haunting theme, it will definitely initiate your talking about it after you leave the cinema for some time. Despite softness and passion behind the eyes of Lucia, still you can silently think loud: Is this nothing but intellectual porn?
Kathy Hadizadeh
Los Angeles, July 19th 2002