By Dan Skip Allen

In recent years, there has been a topic in films that has popped up that is quite prevalent in society, so it makes sense that it would be a recurring topic in movies. That is post-partum depression or mental health issues involving mothers. With a mother living a dual life of a full-time worker and parent, it’s not easy for them to always balance both aspects of their lives. Even if they have a husband or lover in the case of this film. “The Currents “ is another film involving these elements. Movies like “Night Bitch” and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” were two previous films that tackled this topic and I quite liked the performances of the two stars of these movies Amy Adams and Rose Byrne.The question still remains though whether or not I liked the star of this film.

A fashion designer Lina “Cata” is her nickname (Isabel Aime Gonzalez Sola) in Argentina, who goes on a work trip to Switzerland and receives a standing ovation for her work. As she’s walking around the cold, windy, and empty city, she decides to walk over and jump off of a bridge into a river. She gets picked up by an ambulance and dropped off at her hotel, where she dries off. She subsequently stairs out her window at a swan in the river, cleaning itself off. Fast forward to her back home in Buenos Aires, and she has issues with taking a shower or getting near water. Including giving her daughter Sofia a bath. This causes issues with her husband, who is also a full-time worker.

The lead character is a fashion designer, and she has to oversee a team of people who work for her. This is an important job, but since she’s come back from her trip abroad, she’s been acting weird. She developed a rash because she won’t wash her hair. She ends up going to a hair salon where the daughter of a woman she used to know still works there. She helps her with her issues, but even this causes problems for the woman. A mixture of this odd phobia and the life she leads, including raising a child, causes her to have a form of depression and her mental health is a major problem. Gonzalez Sola does a great job of showing the audience that she has issues. 

The director Milagros Mumenthaler gives viewers watching a few different things to show the ailments this woman has. One of them is flashbacks to the moment in question. Others are lapses of time where the main character forgets she’s supposed to be somewhere or do something and other times where she can’t hear anything because she’s in her own world lost in her thoughts. A sequence involving virtual reality gives viewers a sense of what is truly going on with this woman and where her head is.This is an aspect of depression and a form of post-partum.This woman is overwhelmed by her life and it even crosses over into her love life regarding her relationship with her husband. This is a new form of this that I haven’t seen on film before, but it seems pretty effective in showing what is going on with this woman. 

Besides the Gonzalez Sola character, there is a decent supporting cast. Pedro (Estaban Bigliardi) is the husband. He is okay at first with his wife’s weird behavior but finally confronts her about it. He’s at a loss as to what to do about it. His mother, Ines (Claudia Sanchez), tries to help with their child Sofia (Emma Fayo Duarte) any way she can. By babysitting or even bringing over meals that only have to be microwaved so as to not have to cook dinner after work. She tries to make their lives easier considering the stress that the Gonzalez Sola character is going through. The hairdresser Amalia (Jazmin Carballo) is a sense of calm for the main character. She helps her by doing her hair but is also a shoulder for her to lean on regarding having discussions about what she’s going through. Gonzalez Sola ‘s character has an assistant Julia (Ernestina Gatti) who works for her, and she tries to help her at work but lives her own life. Her work isn’t everything to her. She has a case free attitude towards things. It’s not very stressful even though she’s in a very stressful environment regarding fashion and so forth. This is a very good supporting cast that accentuates the lead character. 

There is one sequence in the movie where the camera just gives a panoramic view of the city of Buenos Aires while a beautiful score is being played alongside it. This is a dichotomy to the rest of the movie where things are in flux. A moment where the lead character puts her daughter down with an iPad so she can work and the daughter wanders off into a domed light at the top of the building she’s working in is a prime example of this. This woman can’t be alone with her work because of her daughter and husband and the life she has chosen to live. It’s a reason this sort of depression has crept up in a lot of women’s lives. Or rather, it’s become more talked about now rather than before where it wasn’t noticeable or brought up.

“The Currents “ is a film that a lot of women will relate to. This type of abnormality regarding a woman’s thoughts of feelings has become quite prevalent in society. This story took place in Argentina, but this affects women all over the world. The direction and script were well done in regards to how they were able to get this story across to the viewers watching. The performances across the board were very good, especially from Gonzalez Sola. I have a mother, and she was sick a lot, but trying to be a good mother wasn’t easy for her. I also know a mother who works and tries to keep a household. Women in this day and age have it hard because a lot of them work. This isn’t an easy time to be a mother raising children.  This film shows the difficulties they have working and raising children. I completely understand why they may have mental health issues or depression in these tough circumstances. 

4 ½ stars