Play (2005)

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As Chilean writer-director Alicia Scherson's debut feature, the psychodrama Play explores the ramifications of an infatuation that threatens to erupt into full-blown obsession. It unfolds in Santiago, Chile, where Cristina (Viviana Herrera), a young Mapuche who hails from the country's southern… More As Chilean writer-director Alicia Scherson's debut feature, the psychodrama Play explores the ramifications of an infatuation that threatens to erupt into full-blown obsession. It unfolds in Santiago, Chile, where Cristina (Viviana Herrera), a young Mapuche who hails from the country's southern regions, works as a caregiver for a Hungarian émigré. After Tristan (Andres Ulloa), a well-to-do architect recently abandoned by his wife Irene (Aline Küppenheim), is accosted and robbed near the Hungarian's residence, Cristina happens to find his briefcase the following morning (in a metal bin) and eagerly tears it open, sifting through its contents. Though relatively banal, the ingredients - an iPod, identification cards, a notebook, the wife's vest - fascinate Cristina, who becomes fixated on probing and prying into Tristan's life. She first breaks into the couple's home, then tracks Tristan all over Santiago. Finally, Cristina's obsession reaches a new level when she swipes Irene's clothes and makeup and wears them herself, then ignites a torrid affair with the couple's gardener, Manuel (Juan Pablo Quezada). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi