Silvia Prieto

Rejtman’s effervescent masterpiece is a glittering screwball-inspired comedy of shifting identities that centers around the ardent efforts of its strong eponymous heroine to suddenly lead her life in a radically new direction. Everything goes differently when she discovers there is more than one Silvia Prieto. Buoyed by its fanciful, rapid-fire dialogue and at times hilariously absurd story, Silvia Prieto is saturated by a Pop sensibility that belies a gently ironic fascination with bright logos, television slogans and the rich contradictions of consumer culture. Rejtman’s deep appreciation of nonprofessional actors led him to prominent, popular Argentine singer-musicians in key roles, including Vicentico and Rosario Bléfari, who brings a spontaneous grace to her portrayal of Silvia Prieto as a young woman spinning at a crossroads of her own design. Guided by Bléfari’s mellifluous voice in a wonderfully disjointed voiceover, Silvia Prieto offers an affectionate portrait of romantic folly that, at its end, reveals an unexpected bridge to Rejtman’s lesser-known documentary work.

The Harvard Film Archive will also screen a beautiful English-subtitled 35mm print that now forms part of the HFA’s Cinema Tropical Collection.