Nuestro tiempo (2018)

Directed by: Carlos Reygadas | 173 minutes | drama | Actors: Natalia López, Phil Burgers, Carlos Reygadas, Maria Hagerman, Yago Martínez, Eleazar Reygadas, Rut Reygadas

What makes a marriage, or a love affair, good? A complex question, with no clear answer. So many people, so many opinions. While one couple swears by communication and openness, the other benefits from letting each other go as far as possible. In ‘Nuestro tiempo’, the fifth feature film by acclaimed filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, the limits of a successful love affair are explored and put to the test.

The film opens in a delightfully bland way with a minute-long flowing shot of children of all age groups while wasting their time in and around a muddy lake. The toddlers have fun splashing about in the water, the slightly older children talk about their favorite school subject and gossip about the older children. The young adults flirt, drink, smoke and have fun. Bare limbs, unrestrained fun, mud, raging hormones, vacation. Life is good. There is nothing wrong with this intoxicating Mexican landscape.

But of course nothing could be further from the truth. Esther and Juan (played by the director and his wife) work hard and party hard on the remote estate of Esther and Juan. The couple has surrounded themselves with staff: farmhands, maids and nannies. A kind of Downton Abbey, but in Mexico on a bull farm. Esther is an experienced businesswoman, who runs the ranch with a lot of passion and knowledge. Her husband Juan leaves many things to her so that he can spend his time writing poetry.

However, when American horse trainer Phil visits the bull ranch, he can’t help but interfere with him. Not long after, it becomes clear why. Esther goes to town with the gringo and the couple know that she will be cheating on Phil. Juan and Esther have an open relationship, but where apparently not much was said about it before, Juan now suddenly wants details. At first Esther still teases him about it: does he want an image in his head for jerking off?

You cannot escape the knowledge that ‘Nuestro tiempo’ is a personal film for the filmmaker. Not only does his wife play the role of his film character’s cheating wife, his children are also on display, as well as his home. Yet the film does not feel like voyeurism, although the main character is guilty of this himself in a number of uncomfortable and at the same time comic scenes. The daily worries on the ranch (a bull attacks a beloved donkey, the children talk about their school day) contrast sharply with the struggles in the marriage.

Incidentally, those “other” scenes do not only have the function of creating a feeling of disharmony. The film is bursting with symbolism and deeper layers: at first glance the opening scene has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but it implicitly forms the basis of what Reygadas wants to say: the relationship between men and women and how deeply ingrained this is in our being.

‘Nuestro tiempo’ has a running time of three hours, which will at least be challenging for the average viewer, but for those who want to invest the time, an emotional and realistic portrait of love, lust, jealousy, power and betrayal awaits. Despite the loss of their innocence, adults do not appear to be that much different from children. Thanks to the beautiful camera work by Diego García (‘Neon Bull’ and ‘Cemetery of Splendour’) – who makes full use of the setting sun – we see enchanting images that sometimes make your mouth drop (the plane landing, amazingly beautiful). Compliments also for the choice of music, The Carpet Crawlers by Genesis has never sounded so nice.