Bilal (Edith Martínez-Val), a Senegalese refugee, asks Carmina (Beatriz Arjona), an Andalusian divorcee, if they’re going to Marseille. Carmina, dismissively, assures her that they’re going, the kind of answer Bilal has no good reason to trust. The Party’s Over isn’t blatant on why Carmina doesn’t want Bilal to leave – loneliness seems like the best reason. She sets conditions for Bilal, mainly to hide himself from Lupe (Sonia Barba), who is Carmina’s maid. Of course, Lupe finds Bilal, the latter being more open to her about her big ambitions than to Carmina. She also discovers that Bilal is actually a girl, Binta, which changes everything. Carmina’s erratic behaviour also makes Bilal want to escape more, the latter trying to find the right time.
Elena Manrique usually works as an executive producer but this time around, she sits on the director’s chair. In this film, she uses Carmina to satirise the upper classes who has a grip on Spanish society. She’s nice to Lupe and to Bilal, allowing them to share the same space within which she occupies. But The Party’s Over shows that she’s only fake nice as long as people around her know their place. That seems okay for Lupe, a descendant of a family who works for generations of Carmina’s aristocratic family. Everyone’s characterization has moments of fun, especially during moments when Carmina acts like a fortysomething mean girl. I’m also giving the film a pass for its aesthetics – even a rough cut evinces Carmina’s gilded cage.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Comedy
- Release Date: 9/8/2024
- Directed by: Elena Manrique
- Starring: Beatriz Arjona, Edith Martínez-Val, Sonia Barba
- Produced by: Belén Atienza, Olmo Figueredo
- Written by: Elena Manrique
- Studio: La Cruda Realidad, Think Studio
