Merced Elizondo’s short film explores the tragically sinister side of grief; the guilt associated with the vulnerability that arises from that darkness. Natalia Villegas plays Maribel, a young woman who has lost her mother and now seeks comfort by attending the funerals and wakes of strangers, observing the families in their grief and even pretending to have personal connections with the deceased.
Villegas gives an arresting performance, emphasising Maribel’s loneliness and longing for some form of catharsis. Elizondo’s direction highlights her nervous physicality and watchful silence, making her her presence in these spaces unsettling without being comedic. Her suffering is a trespass and the tension of her being caught at her most vulnerable is very powerful. The belonging she craves is all around her but entirely distant.
The film contrasts the grandeur of the rituals of mourning with the intensely private experience of it. Lost amidst the gothic architecture of the catholic church in which the services are carried out and the echoing coldness of the funeral home, Maribel is isolated and alone. Her uncomfortable fantasies of approaching the closest family members and sharing in the comfort they provide each other, and even dreaming of offering some comfort in return, are made all the more devastating by the unexpected catharsis of the film’s conclusion. In its brief runtime, The Mourning Of leaves an unsettling portrait of the way grief can disorient us and compel us to seek connection at all costs.
Four Stars