'Las corrientes' explores a woman's hidden turmoil after a river plunge

'Las corrientes', the third feature by Argentine-Swiss director Milagros Mumenthaler, follows Lina (Isabel Aimé González Sola), a fashion designer who impulsively jumps into the Rhône river in Geneva after receiving an award. The film, which premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival, refuses to provide easy answers, instead delving into her inner currents.

What happens

The opening scene shows Lina plunging into the icy water and surviving. Back in Buenos Aires, she returns to her seemingly perfect life—a successful career, a loving husband (Esteban Bigliardi), and a young daughter—but a growing fobia to water and a sense of dislocation take hold. Mumenthaler noted the difficulty of sustaining the narrative: "The path chosen was to plant a mystery and let the spectator try to solve it alongside the protagonist" Source: Infobae.

Themes and style

The film is steeped in Hitchcockian suspense, with a deliberate, classical framing that the director says "generates a strangeness in today's eyes, accustomed to mobile phones and platforms" Source: El Español. Comparisons to 'Vertigo' are frequent, though Mumenthaler clarifies her interest is in mise-en-scène rather than female characters Source: El Español. Central themes include class friction—Lina's in-laws remind her of her humble origins—and motherhood, which Mumenthaler argues makes personal reinvention almost impossible: "In this society it is impossible to reinvent yourself when motherhood is in the way" Source: El País. The director also worked with a psychoanalyst while writing the script to explore the characters' pathologies Source: Infobae.

Critical reception

ABC criticises the film's cold distance, noting it "neither explains nor understands; it only shows", but praises González Sola's performance Source: ABC. The film's visual elegance—particularly the iconic turquoise coat—has been widely noted Source: Lavanguardia.