Las Meninas (film)

Las Meninas

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ihor Podolchak
Co-director:
Dean Karr
Produced by Ihor Podolchak
Liliya Mlynarych
Ihor Dyurych
Tamara Podolchak
Written by Ihor Podolchak
Additional dialogues:
Andrey Levkin
Starring Mykola Veresen
Lyubov Tymoshevska
Hanna Yarovenko
Music by Alexander Shchetynsky
Additional music:
Yuriy Yaremchuk
Cinematography Serhiy Mykhalchuk
Editing by Ihor Podolchak
Distributed by

Ihor Podolchak, Ukraine

Insomnia World Sales
Release date(s)

Rotterdam International Film Festival
January 25, 2008
Ukraine

October 5, 2009
Running time 99 minutes
Country Ukraine
Language Ukrainian
Budget 850 000 $

Las Meninas (Spanish for The Maids of Honour) is a 2008 Ukrainian film directed by Ihor Podolchak.

Contents

Plot synopsis

The film is about what the routine of everyday life can do to the human mind and psyche. It also reflects on the importance of the choices we make and how limited these choices are in the first place. The plot evolves around a family of four. They live in the suburbs, in a strange villa that appears, through a complex game of mirrors, to be more like a piece of installation art than a real house. The main character, who hardly appears on screen, is the son, a man in his thirties. Suffering from asthma and eczema since childhood, he uses his condition to manipulate his parents and his sister. Thus the existence of the terrorized family turns into an endless ritual of attempting to satisfy his whims, and always on the alert for yet another one of his “health crises”.

Las Meninas resembles the scattered pieces of a puzzle. It is up to the viewer to assemble them in order to form his very own picture – something that makes the film itself personal and unique.

Cast

Sources

External links

Bibliography