María Luisa Bemberg

María Luisa Bemberg

María Luisa Bemberg (born April 14, 1922 in Buenos Aires , Argentina ; † May 7, 1995 there ) was an Argentine screenwriter , film and theater director. Her films are dedicated to feminist topics.

Life

Marriage and first films

Bemberg was born in 1922 into one of the most influential families in Argentina. In her childhood and adolescence she was fascinated by the writings of her distant relative Victoria Ocampo . In 1945 she married the architect Carlos Miguens. She had four children with her husband, whom she divorced in 1952. Before turning to films, she worked as a theater director and co-founded the Teatro del Globo in 1968. In the 1970s, she became involved in the Union Feministas Argentinas and began writing screenplays for film directors.

In 1981, at the age of 58, she released her first feature film. Momentos tells of the love story between the unhappily married, childless landscape architect Lucía and the 15 years younger Nicholas, who is also married. Her next project, I don't belong to anyone , she financed herself, as did Momentos . The drama is about a woman (played by Luisina Brando ) who finds out that her husband has been cheating on her with other women for years.

International career

Probably her best-known film was made by Bemberg in 1984 with Camila - The Girl and the Priest , which was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film and which was also a commercial success with two million moviegoers in Argentina. It is about Camila O'Gorman , who caused a scandal in Argentina in 1847 when it was revealed that she was having an affair with the priest Ladislao Gutierrez. For this offense, Camila O'Gorman was executed.

The US-Argentinian co-production The Passion of Miss Mary premiered in 1986. The film is about a British woman around 40 - played by Julie Christie - who worked in 1938 as a tutor for large Argentinian landowners.

The historical drama I, the Most Unworthy of All, is based on the book Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz or The Pitfalls of Faith by the Mexican writer Octavio Paz and is a film adaptation of the life of Juana Inés de la Cruz , a Mexican who lived in the 17th century , first as a lady-in-waiting to the viceroy, and later went to the monastery to devote herself to literature and science. The film received a Honorable Mention at the Venice Film Festival and was Argentina's entry for a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the 1990 Academy Awards .

In 1993 she published the romantic comedy De eso no se habla , which was based on a short story by Julio Llinás and, like all of her other films, was produced by Lita Stantic . This was Bembergs last directorial work, as she died of cancer in 1995. Before her death, the director had been working on a novel or script that Alejandro Maci filmed under the title El impostor .

Filmography

Direction and script

• 1981: momentarily
• 1982: I don't belong to anyone (Señora de nadie)
• 1984: Camila - The Girl and the Priest (Camila)
• 1986: The Passion of Miss Mary (Miss Mary)
• 1990: I, the most unworthy of all (Yo, la peor de todas)
• 1993: De eso no se habla

Script only

• 1971: Crónica de una señora
• 1975: Triángulo de cuatro
• 1997: El impostor (posthumous)

literature

• John King (Ed.), Sheila Whitaker (Ed.), Rosa Bosch (Ed.): An Argentine Passion: Maria Luisa Bemberg and Her Films (Critical Studies in Latin American and Iberian Cultures) . Verso, London 2001, ISBN 1-85984-308-5

Web links

• María Luisa Bemberg in the Internet Movie Database (English)