Mataharis

Mataharis

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Icíar Bollaín
Produced by Simón de Santiago
Written by Icíar Bollaín
Tatiana Rodríguez
Starring Najwa Nimri
María Vázquez
Nuria González
Diego Marín
Tristán Ulloa
Music by Lucio Godoy
Cinematography Kiko de la Rica
Edited by Angel Hernández Zoido
Release dates
  • 20 September 2007
Running time
 1h 40 min
Country Spain
Language Spanish
Budget €2,500,000

Mataharis is a 2007 Spanish drama film directed by Icíar Bollaín. It stars Najwa Nimri, Tristán Ulloa, María Vázquez and Nuria González. The plot follows the lives of three female detectives who investigate the secrets of others, but end up uncovering their own families' lies and truths they would prefer to ignore.

Plot

Inés, Eva and Carmen, three women of different generations, work as private detectives for an investigation agency run by Valbuena, their male chauvinist boss. Inés, the youngest and more ambitious of the three is assigned to work undercover as a factory employee to spy on the activities of its union leaders. However, her investigation brings her face to face with a difficult emotional and ethical decision. Initially she wants to get higher up in the agency with this, the agency’s most important case. However, in the process, she empathises with the cause of Manuel, one of the key members she is investigating, as he is defending the workers' rights against the company, and develops feelings towards him. Her ethics and feelings, mixed with the fear of losing her job and career, turn her life into a turmoil.

Eva has just returned to work at the detective agency after having had her second child. She is assigned to a rather mundane case of tracking down an old man's first love. Eva finds juggling her responsibilities very hard, and she does not find the support she needs in her husband Iñaki. When a mysterious woman called Marta appears in Iñaki’s life, Eva starts an investigation into her spouse’s secret life stumbling upon the possibility that her husband may not only be having an affair but leading a double life with another wife and family. She follows him from Madrid to Zaragoza where she quickly finds out that he has had a son born from a previous relationship and now has become a willing participant in the life of a child, ignored for 10 years.

Carmen, the oldest and most experienced of the three detectives, is on a routine investigation of both the business partner and the wife of Sergio, a photographer whose wife is having an affair with his business partner and close friend. Carmen sympathizes with Sergio's marital collapse not seeming to notice the dire straits of her own marriage.

Cast

DVD release

Mataharis is available in Region 2 DVD in Spanish with English subtitles.

External links