Elena Knows Review: Netflix’s Argentinian film stars Mercedes Morán as Elena, Erica Rivas as Rita, Mey Scapola as Isabel, and Miranda de le Serna as Young Rita. Also known as Elena Sabe, the film is directed by Anahi Berneri, and the story is based on Claudia Pinerio’s book of the same name. The screenplay is written by Gabriela Larralde. The runtime is 99 minutes. The movie has English subtitles and is dubbed too.
Elena Knows Trailer
Elena Knows Review Contains No Spoilers
In Netflix’s Elena Knows Movie, we meet Elena and Rita, a mother and a daughter living together. Elena has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The duo doesn’t really have a sweet bond and is often seen in disagreement. One night, Elena is informed that her daughter Rita has died by suicide. She refuses to believe that her daughter could kill herself. With no help from the cops, Elena decides to take it upon herself to find out the truth about Rita’s death.
I haven’t read the book, so I have no idea what the reading experience is like once someone completes it. However, the Netflix film fails to catch your attention until the end. The main premise is laid out in the first 20 minutes, and the rest of the time is spent in flashback scenes between the mother-daughter duo. The intention is to make Elena realise how her relationship with Rita has been in the past and to evoke some emotions. But the plain storytelling and lack of emotional depth in those scenes fail to move you.
Director Anahi Berneri makes Elena spend a lot of time in the past as she digs for the truth about a present incident. When one reads these anecdotes, one can connect with and understand the characters better because there’s enough time to establish the bond and tragedies. In the movie, the main tragedy happens quickly, and we get to see very little of their current relationship. So it’s tough to stay invested completely in their past moments.
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The movie falls short of genuine sentiments and a feeling of loss for our character. After an hour, the narrative gets dragged to the point where you become impatient to know what’s the point of everything that has already happened. The performances are good. But when a story is weak, there’s only so much the actors can do to create an impact.
Elena Knows Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, Elena Knows on Netflix is an underwhelming and tiring saga of a mother-daughter relationship. It’s an apt example of how some stories are heartwarming on paper but can’t always be executed perfectly on screen.
Elena Knows aka Elena Sabe movie is now streaming on Netflix.
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