The smell of that place

It is the landscape which the narration of this film awakens to life: the trees and rivers of this rural region in Uruguay are continually in motion, owing to the wind. Yet they offer a magical setting for a portrait of the filmmaker’s grandmother. The lady, her hair short, her facial features finely drawn, sits outside in an upholstered armchair amid the backdrop of birds chirping and twittering. Her grandson, Andrés Boero Madrid, asks only a few questions from his position behind the camera. His editing lets his grandmother's stories tell their tales via the natural images. She sings a song about a crazy woman who travelled across the land and candidly admits that she, a loner with a lively fantasy, also lives in her own world. Madrid’s headstrong grandmother clearly enjoys being filmed and telling her story. But what results is not just a report; instead, El olor de aquel lugar is a sensual, poetic attempt to draw closer to a beloved person. In this context memories bloom as if they had been triggered by a scent from the distant past.

Jenny Billeter

Translation BMP Translations