Love, Pain, and Vice Versa

Love, Pain, and Vice Versa (along with iced coffee) turned out to be a fabulous way to start the day. The three of us clung to our seats and each other for most of this Spanish thriller. The director, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, later said that his main influence was Hitchcock, and he did quite an incredible job of creating his own brand of psychological thriller.

The most interesting aspect of this film is the sequence of the story. Love, Pain, and Vice Versa focuses on a man and a woman who interact mostly in their dreams and nightmares. The sequence of events is in no way linear and sometimes the audience doesn’t know if their watching reality, a dream, or a dream foreshadowing reality. The director admitted in the talk back, “I loved the first cut of the film but I was the only one who could understand it. My producers kept asking me to add more and more scenes but I didn’t want to underestimate the audience”. I felt like raising my hand and telling him he might have overestimated me. But it turned out I had most of the sequencing correct and after a short discussion, the whole film came together. Its much more interesting if you have to be actively involved in piecing the film together.

There was one stunning shot in the film that captured the story in its entirety. I felt like I could have been looking at a photograph entitled Love, Pain, and Vice Versa. Over all, the film was an adrenaline rush with intense characters and a engrossing but not overly complex storyline. It was in no way a light film but we left the theatre wide eyed and energized.