Wholeheartedly is a short film jam-packed with themes that hurt the heart and expose the soul to struggles of immigrant women and their plight towards freedom, be it from abusive men, alcohol, or their status as ‘illegal’. This is Theo Francocci’s first project, having taken on its producing, writing, directing, and editing responsibilities by himself. For a first-time filmmaker, Francocci seems to be headed towards the right direction, as the project’s been rewarded with numerous nominations and awards in various short film festivals around the globe.
Andrea Mendez’s performance as Carmen, the main character of Wholeheartedly, is the highlight of the film. The emotional maelstrom the character whirls through is exhausting, and Mendez’s performance speaks to that exhaustion artfully.
Wholeheartedly begins with Carmen looking at herself in the mirror, except the reflection changes from the put-together long-haired confident person to a short-haired young woman looking fearfully at Carmen—it is the image of her past. We are then catapulted into an AA meeting, where the short-haired pregnant Carmen begins to tell us her story of how she got there. Carmen is a young woman, recently arrived in the States from Mexico and denied legal immigrant status by the government. She meets her husband, Robert whom she marries and gets pregnant with, granting her conditional immigrant status by marriage. Robert is an alcoholic. And it is through Carmen’s narrative that we find out that she started to drink with him and now she attends meetings because she wants to keep her unborn baby safe. Returning from the meeting, Carmen finds Robert under the sheets in their bed, with another woman. She has nowhere to go, no refuge, and if she breaks up with her husband, she puts her immigration status in great jeopardy. Mendez lifts a heavy acting weight as the role demands the portrayal of the emotional consequences such circumstances bring about with themselves. The film is filled with Carmen’s turmoil, alone and in constant disdain.
The narrative is set up to provide us with beginning and ending frames which feature Carmen looking in the mirror. The mirror works to show past versus the future, which is necessary for those looking to recover from trauma. It is only when she panics in a seemingly powerless state that the image of her future self comes to her in the mirror, the same image of the long-haired woman we see in the beginning of the film. Francocci initially shows Carmen’s present being reminded of her past, and at the end, it is her past looking at her present. In this fashion, the director does a wonderful job of telling the story of Carmen backwards, showing us how she became the strong person she is in the opening scene. Carmen’s strength in envisioning the future allows her to take a step forward and attend the meetings to find the right support system. The ending can encourage anyone looking to step outside of their struggles holding them down to reach out to others in hopes for a better tomorrow.
One of the missing pieces in Wholeheartedly was Carmen’s own alcoholism. The plot featured more of Robert’s self-destruction and put Carmen on the opposing end. Though this is certainly sensible and just, it does take a bit from Carmen’s own struggles with alcoholism. We only see a moment of contemplation that shows Carmen’s resolve over the phenomenon of craving, when she’s stranded in the car on the streets after having found out she’s been betrayed by Robert, with the bottle in her hand and ready to temporarily wash away the pain. Surely, it is a safe choice not to highlight Carmen’s own alcoholic tendencies and problems, but it does potentially take away from a more empowering journey of recovery. That is not to take anything from the abuse and oppression Carmen faces, for putting up with an alienating world of betrayal, uncertainty, and hardship are enough for us to feel compassion for Carmen and be inspired by the film to take a step towards encouraging ourselves, and others, to imagine brighter days ahead.
At a time when the gender balance seems to be heading towards a long-awaited equilibrium, films like Wholeheartedly speak to a generation of women who find strength in independence AND unity. It’s a well thought-out sequence when Carmen calls her mother for support after seeing Robert in their bed with another woman. Her mother encourages her to go back, and accept that men are like this, and that this is reality. It’s empowering to see that Carmen will not be part of the generation that accepts betrayal and abuse, that Carmen is and can be any one of us so long as we seek to be independent from that which disempowers us—be it misogyny, violence, and substance abuse. Francocci can definitely inspire and set up a story with a message—if you’re broken today, seek yourself through the cracks and you will find the light to brighten the days ahead.
By: Darida Rose
© 2020. UniversalCinema Mag.