Anything You Want “Todo lo que tú quieras” (Achero Manas, 2010) Spain

Reviewed By: Demi Mellett. Viewed at the: Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011

Anything you want is an exceptional movie. Not only was the little girl Dafne, played by Lucía Fernández, adorable and perfect for her role, but the story itself was on a very intriguing subject. This is a film that everyone should see. Anyone from their teens and up would like this movie. What stood out to me was the costumes in this film. They stood out to me because I personally haven’t seen many movies where men wear wigs and makeup so it was different to see.

This film is about a father and his unconditional love for his daughter. The beginning of the film starts out with Dafne and her mother shopping. When they get tired they stop to go to a park. While playing at the park, Dafne’s mother Alicia, played by Ana Risueño, has a seizure and dies. Dafne, being young and not understanding what has happened just sits by her mother for a few moments. Later she realizes that something is wrong and begins to cry on the bench next to her mother Alica.

The next scene shows Dafne’s father, played by Juan Diego Botto, at work. He is a mediator and has been asked by a friend to help out a cross-dresser named Alex, played by José Luis Gómez. Not knowing what to do with Dafne, he tries his hardest to do whatever he possibly can to help her to stay happy. He gives her all the love he possibly can but all Dafne wants is her mother.

Eventually, Dafne’s father gets together with his friend Marta who asked him to help out her friend Alex. Marta just so happens to be one of his ex-girlfriends and he invites her over for dinner to discuss Alex and his situation. Dafne wants a mother so she tells her dad Leo that she wants Marta to be her fake mom. At first Leo considers it, but then realizes it would be unfair to Martha and himself. He stops seeing Martha and tells Dafne everything will be alright but all she wants still is a mother. Then, an idea sparks in Leo’s head. He starts to wear Alicia’s perfume and puts on her lipstick for Dafne. He starts to do this for Dafne every night when he reads her bedtime story to her. Each night, he adds on to his costume to look more like Alicia so Dafne feels better.

Dafne gets used to this and demands that Leo dress up like her mother every night and eventually he ends up even dressing up in the day for her as well. The director, Achero Mañas, shows us how coping with losing someone close to you can take a toll on a persons life. He takes us on a journey showing us how Leo and Dafne cope together with the loss of Alicia and all of the other problems they have to deal with.

The costumes, makeup, and shades of lighting in this movie really stood out to me. Having men dress up as women and wear makeup is definately different to me. All in all I really enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a happy ending.