princessoffrance
The Princess of France is a riff on the Shakespeare play Love’s Labour’s Lost. I have seen it but that didn't help me follow what was going on here. The film is extremely confusing, with a plethora of pretty young women all vying to be kissed by Victor.
The cast plays a group of actors who perform Shakespeare. As the film begins, Victor is leaving for a year in Mexico after the death of his father. He returns to Buenos Aires to be reunited with his girlfriend Paula and to make a theatrical radio pilot using his group of friends. Victor has been involved with Ana and is flirting with Carla. Paula has hooked up with his friend Guillermo. His ex Natalia hopes for a role and maybe a reconciliation. I stopped trying to understand what was happening and just let the stylish spectacle wash over me.
Even though I was often perplexed, I really enjoyed the fast-paced dialogue, the street scenes and the performances of all of the actresses. Especially interesting are the scenes which are retold multiple times with different results. This is not explained and happens at random times. The opening soccer game scene is wonderful but the initial character, Lorena, never seems to appear again.
Director Matías Piñeiro is engaged in an ongoing project called The Shakespeariada. There are at least two previous films with the same actresses and perhaps even the same characters. Familiarity with this larger universe probably makes it much easier to pick up on what is happening in The Princess of France. If this is revisionism, then it is very personal and particular. It is also articulate, nuanced and stylized and all of these elements allow the film to work, even for those of us unfamiliar with the young director’s larger vision.