Woman Without Piano (Javier Rebollo, 2009): Spain

Reviewed by Conner Emery. Viewed at AFI Fest 2009.

When one goes to see something they know nothing about, usually they would have some reservations. But for some odd reason, as I once again entered Mann’s Theater 1, I had higher expectations for this film than many of the films I’d seen that had directors I already liked. It could have been the slew of greats I had seen the days before, or perhaps it was the short blurb and image provided that got me excited. Needless to say, the director’s speech furthered my already unheard of excitement as he harkened back to silent films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. It seemed destined that I would either love Woman Without Piano, or have everything crumble down and destroy the pleasant experience I so longed for.

So what was the outcome? Well, first let’s talk about plot. Rosa (Carmen Machi) is a hearing-impaired woman in her early 50’s, or at least based on appearances, as a specific age is never mentioned. She can hear most things, but there’s always a ringing in her ears. She’s married and has a business removing unwanted hair. One night, she decides that, hey, life isn’t really going anywhere, why not start over? So as her husband is sleeping, she puts on a wig and grabs a suitcase full of belongings and rushes off into the night. After taking a bus to the train station, she meets Radek (or you can call him Roberto) played by Jan Budar. Rosa notices there’s a sign offering a reward for Roberto, and decides that turning him in would be less fun than joining him for a night on the town. So that’s the basic plot.

I’m going to get this out of the way right now, Woman Without Piano is the antithesis of Amelie. Where as Amelie goes on whimsical little adventures in her pleasant Paris, Rosa’s journey into the nights of Madrid are filled with broken dreams and lost souls. And yet the sense of whimsy and magic is still there. When I left the theater I felt depressed, and yet I couldn’t shake the fact that there was something missing to help it all. And then it dawned upon me. There was no external music, except for two instances. Whereas a movie like Felicia is enhanced by the lack of a film score, Woman Without Piano is greatly damaged. Imagine Amelie without Yann Tiersen’s score: The images are still there, the heart is still there, but fairy tale like effect would be lost as you’re not completely immersed. It may seem like I’m stuck on a simple fact, but the truth of the matter is, this film has the potential to be a classic even more-so than any of the other films I had seen.  The characters are original and wholly memorable, the setting is perfectly captured, but the immersion just isn’t there.

The one thing this movie really succeeds at, is the awkward tension of Rosa and Roberto’s relationship. Roberto, mind you, looks to be at least 20 years younger than Rosa, and yet there’s still this chemistry that is always floating around. The way the film sets up these two character’s stories, you know that the outcome won’t be good, but I could still never give up entertaining the thought that somehow, someway they could overcome the challenges in their life. And age was far from the only thing keeping them distanced.

Although you may want to give up on this movie after about 20 minutes, my suggestion would be to wait it out to see what could have been a masterpiece of cinema. There are moments that will genuinely entertain you, and little details that would put a smile on anyone’s face. As Radek ‘Roberto’ would say, “People give up on things too quickly. If they’re broken, they throw them away instead of even trying to fix them. Repairing things gives meaning to life.” Maybe Javier Rebollo will take this advice and fix this cracked film.

The trailer of Woman Without Piano:

Woman Without Piano Trailer

(It clearly shows the difference music makes on the film.)