Elisa y Marcela

Bored and unable to sleep one night, I decided to watch a Spanish film named Elisa y Marcela. I went into this with no expectations, understanding or idea of what this film was about, only that it was non UK/US so it peaked some interest (I am a lover of foreign films). Going into it, I fell in love with the music which I believe to be composed by Sofía Oriana Infante. I found it portrayed the emotions of the film extremely well of being unsafely in love. Feeling completely captivated by their feelings towards each other yet knowing that it is only for a short moment because, they had to face the reality of the world they lived in.

Some of my favourite scenes were honestly, the sex scenes. I've never seen sex in a film portrayed so intimate, raw, respectful and beautiful. With the film being in Black and White (to represent the time period), it made the lighting, human forms and textures of skin much more compelling. Showing all the imperfectly perfect lines, bumps, moles etc.

The film itself is based upon the first ever known same-sex marriage in Spain dated in 1901 where 'Elisa' disguises herself as a Man to legally marry her partner 'Marcela' and follow the story from their first encounter, to separation, to reunion. It really saddens me to know what people go through, not to be accepted, and how our views, opinions and actions can be so cruel even towards one of the strongest emotions we have as humans; love. To think that love is still to this day punishable by death in some countries is just crazy to me and I can't quite understand it. At the end of the film there is the original picture of Elisa and Marcela on their wedding day, followed by many other images of same-sex marriages through the years to now. I managed to find a map of countries that are still criminalising LGBT people with information on the charity (Human Dignity Trust) and how they help if anyone is interested.

I would recommend watching Elisa y Marcela, whether you need a good cry, to believe in love again or just something to watch. None of the scenes were particularly hard to watch either, although some events are not very nice, for example having stones thrown at them but it doesn't go into much detail. I believe this is to tell their story of relationship development and commitment to each other rather than go into detail of hardships faced and raise awareness of these problems which I can understand.