el nido vacio

El Nido Vacio The Empty Nest (2008) is set in a Buenos Aires that I have never seen. Even if you account for the film's middle-class literarty setting, it's hard to get your bearings. This is a city bereft of buses, with litter-free streets and few dogs. In this version of the city, there are no botched-plastic surgery inflicted women, nor asado-loving men.

This was the first film I had seen with Cecilia Roth in it - oh, no it turns out it wasn't as she was in Pedro Almodóvar's Hable con ella (and several other of his films). Nevertheless, I was interested to see her work and I liked the exuberance of her character Marta.

The film is concerned with some favourite porteño preoccupations - group psychotherapy, empañadas, late-late-night dinner parties, adored authors (and the book they are struggling to find time to write), smoking (and quitting), sex and seduction. But above all it's about family, and how a couple adjusts to their 'empty nest.'

Watch the trailer below (sorry no subtitles):