''Celia's Lives'' ( es, Las vidas de Celia, links=no) is a 2006 Spanish-Mexican drama film directed and written by Antonio Chavarrías which stars

Najwa Nimri Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea (; born 14 February 1972) is a Spanish actress and singer. Early life Nimri's mother is from Pamplona and her father, Karam Nimri, is Jordanian. She has a brother named Karim Nimri, a half-brother named Andre Nimri an ...

and Luis Tosar.

Plot

The night Celia unsuccessfully attempts

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

, a teenage girl (Melany) is raped and murdered nearby. Miguel Ángel, the police officer in charge of finding the perpetrator of the crime, digs around Celia and her closest circle, including her two sisters (Carmen and Ángela) and her husband Agustín. While the cop suspects about the girl's boyfriend (Pedro), Celia suspects about her husband.

Cast

Production

A Spanish-Mexican co-production, the film was produced by Oberon Cinematográfica, TAU, and Altavista Films, and it had the participation of TVE and TVC.

Release

The film was presented at the 54th San Sebastián International Film Festival's official selection in September 2006. It was also selected for the

Marrakech International Film Festival The Marrakech International Film Festival (FIFM) ( ar, المهرجان الدولي للفيلم بمراكش, Amazigh ⴰⵏⵎⵓⴳⴳⴰⵔ ⴰⴳⵔⴰⵖⵍⴰⵏ ⵏ ⵍⴼⵉⵍⵎ ⴳ ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ ) is an international film festi ...

's main competition. Distributed by Nirvana, it was theatrically released in Spain on 19 January 2007.

Reception

Jonathan Holland of '' Variety'' considered the "cunningly-structured noir" to be Antonio Chavarrías' "finest work to date". Nuria Vidal of '' Fotogramas'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, praising "the spaces and the characters", while citing "a certain confusion of times" as a negative point. Javier Ocaña of ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'' considered that "with an agile, nervous production and very good performances" (especially by Tosar and Giménez Cacho) the film manages to portray a "desolate" (and perhaps a tad exaggerated) male panorama in relation to their treatment of women.

References