Gloria, the fifth feature from Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, is a refreshing and bold take on love in middle age.

Set in Santiago, the story follows Gloria, a 58-year-old divorcee whose routine is interrupted when she meets ex-naval officer Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez) in one of the city's dance clubs. As the couple's whirlwind romance blossoms, the film offers a smart and sensitive look at the maturing of sexual desire, the ache for companionship and the realities of ongoing relationships with children and family. With a beautifully nuanced narrative and a script that doesn't feel old or tired-out in any way, this is a touching and unswervingly honest film.

It is no surprise that Paulina García won Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival for her portrayal of the independent, levelheaded Gloria who, despite moments of loneliness, glows with a joie-de-vivre so often lacking from similar characters, offering audiences the engaging and empowering mature female protagonist we've been waiting for.

In this post-screening Q&A Watershed's Cinema Curator Mark Cosgrove discusses Gloria with director Sebastián Lelio. Lelio talks about making and developing the film, and his longing to cast lead actress Paulina García since first seeing her act when he was seven years old. Cosgrove jokes that that Lelio "out Leigh's Mike Leigh" in his ability to create people rather than characters, and Lelio admits to taking great inspiration from Leigh's naturalistic style.

Lelio had always hoped to make a film about an under-represented figure in society, someone from his mother's generation - 'a woman who sings in the car'. In Gloria he has achieved it. The Berlin jury commended the film for its "refreshing and contagious plea that life is a celebration to which we are all invited, regardless of age or condition, and that its complexities only add to the challenge to live it in full.”

Gloria is screening at Watershed from Fri 1 - Thu 14 November. Book tickets here.

Posted on Sat 19 Oct 2013.

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