Brother & Sister

The family is the key environment in which the director conceives his ideas, as suggested by the titles of his films over the last few years. The lost embrace, empty nest and family law also resonate as themes in Brother & Sister, although the two protagonists in this case have been unable to create any sense of family whatsoever. Susana and Marcos are still single, the first through egoism, the second, conversely, through altruism. Susana, who works for an estate agent, is deceitful, affected, extravagant and scheming. She has placed the burden of looking after their mother on Marcos in an attempt to prevent her brother from attaining any kind of success: there is no room for two winners in one family. After the mother dies, Susana sells her flat, thereby depriving her 64-year-old brother of his home, even though he has sacrificed his life caring for their parent. Timid, withdrawn Marcos, a defender of family values, decided long ago to relinquish any thoughts of travelling and developing his stage talent in order to live at home sheltered under his mother’s skirt, a victim of the Oedipus complex. His need to start living again surfaces when Susana forces Marcos to leave Buenos Aires for Uruguay...