 from filmmaker Inês Teixeira is a gentle, quiet, coming-of-age film centering on Mariana){kind=link}
Corpos Cintilantes (Shimmering Bodies) from filmmaker Inês Teixeira is a gentle, quiet, coming-of-age film centering on Mariana (played by Maria Abreu) who accepts an invite from a friend Jorge (played by Gaspar Menezes) to his house his Leiria altering the way she sees him, and herself caught in his eyes but more importantly, in her own reflection.
Early in the short, Mariana introduces the idea of people feeling your gaze upon them. Like when you look out the window on a bus at a person in a car next to you and they turn and look at you. She states that she herself has never felt someone’s gaze upon her and been the one to return it. She’s only been the gazer. This statement comes off fairly innocent – until she asks Jorge about studying for the math test that weekend and when he reveals he’s going to be at his family home Leiria. However, instead of just rescheduling the studying, he invites her to join them in Leiria. So, it would seem, someone has probably been gazing upon her, and she hasn’t noticed.
The film, despite only being 20 minutes, does a good job of showing that people are not always the same depending on their environment. Mariana was chatty in Lisbon around her friends, but got quieter, taking on a more observant role when faced with Jorge’s friends from outside the city and the possibility of a change in her relationship dynamic with Jorge.
A dynamic change that came to the fore really quickly when she arrived and was presented with swimsuits. The film does a great job of conveying that these swimsuits, and the lack of skin coverage, would have Mariana showing Jorge more of her body than she has before… and that she’s not sure if she’s comfortable with that. It was an inspired choice to focus on Maria Abreu looking at her own reflection, and the clothing she’s wearing in her reflection, because she was able to convey a lot of plot and emotion very effectively in the couple of scenes they did this in.
The film also has a nice bookending of images via the sculptures at the beginning with Mariana at the end, which based on the previous scene, I’m choosing to interpret as Mariana taking power in it.
Coprpos Cintilantes (Shimmering Bodies) was one of five shorts programmed as part of Cannes’ Semaine De La Critique (The International Critics’ Week) Short Films Competition 1 Group (the other four were: Walking With Her into the Night, Via Dolorosa, Arkhé, and Boléro) where it had its World Premiere.
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