The Bathroom

Gregory Cohen concentrates Chilean life and history throughout the ages into a tragicomic bathroom piece: one room, one camera angle and an ensemble portraying archetypal scenes. A chamber piece in which longing, hope and difficulty spawn action, humor and sympathy. It runs the gamut from marital dramas, flirtations, a conga line and discussions about politics. A young member of the opposition grieves a casualty of the bloody street fighting and, finally, Pinochet's terror troops use the room for interrogation and torture.

Credits

Original Title: El baño
Language: Spanish original version with English subtitles
Country of Origin: Chile
Year : 2005
Duration: 90 Min.
Color
Director: Gregory Cohen
Script: Gregory Cohen
Camera: Piola Avalos, Victor Uribe
Editing: Alexis Moreno, Gregory Cohen
Sound Mix: Mauricio Castañeda
Music: Andreas Bodenhofer
Starring/Featuring: Juan Pablo Bastidas, Faride Kaid, Aline Küppenheim, Ramón Llao, Pablo Macaya, Jaime McManus, Alex Zisis
Production: Dos Pasos, Puntocieco Comunicaciones, Javier Laiz, Antonino Ballestrazzi; Guillermo “Pito” Alvarez, Rodrigo Orellana, Igor Rosenman
Festivals: 2009: One World Berlin (D); 2006: All the Cinemas of the World: Focus on Chile

About the Film

There's a reason

why the bathroom is the only room in most homes that can be locked from the inside only. It is meant to be a space where one can create privacy and keep others out. But the bathroom in El Baño can be locked from the outside. Here the unhappy wife can lock in her pot-smoking husband before she leaves him for good.

Another reason

why the bathroom in Chilean director Gregory Cohen's film can be locked from the outside is because it can then be unlocked from the outside too. And this happens in all the stories: a tale of society invading the private.

Film Comment:

natalieg 15.11.2009

The black humor and brutality are tough to swallow at times, but I recommend this to anyone interested in original cinema with a strong social message.