4º – Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2011)
A group of people start work as affective substitutes for people recently killed for bereaved families. Strange as this premise seems, ‘Alps’ is a film about the affective relationships built in life and its importance for the human being. Here, by the quest for the end of almost inexorable suffering, moral concepts are suppressed. We can constitute the figure of substitutes as a symbolic point for the ever-emerging pharmaceutical industry, where the definition of suffering has become a kind of taboo for our society, producing, more and more, individuals guided by diverse and unnecessary medications.
3º – Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967)
A housewife wrapped in an insipid routine decides to enter the cartel of a brothel, moving her formerly monotonous afternoons. Provocative, ‘Belle de Jour’ is a work that questions certain roles imposed on the human being by the figure of social morality that touches the “zeitgeist” of the time. Directed by Luis Buñuel, the film still brings us an irreplaceable performance of Catherine Deneuve as the central character.
2º – American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999)
A middle-aged man, frustrated sexually, ends up glimpsing a cathartic exit for his life, changing his routines and gaining dynamicity in his day to day. The film still exposes the concept of obsession, where the character finds in the figure of a teenage friend of his daughter a fuel to continue the changes of his life.
1º – Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003)
A young woman, fleeing from ghosts of the past, ends up stopping in a small and welcoming community. After asking to live in the place in exchange for small jobs, even with the protest of some residents, the young woman is accepted. However, as we advance on the plot, we will see that the bad nature of the human being is engendered in any medium. Directed by Lars Von Trier, ‘Dogville’ imposes on the viewer a pessimistic (or realistic for some philosophical currents) view of human nature.
