Memoirs of a Burning Body: a brilliant mix of genres [critique]

Antonella Sudasassi Furnissa combines fiction and documentary to tell the story of the sexual oppression suffered by women throughout their lives as well as the joy of liberation. Impressive.

“Free at last!” could be the subtitle of this film. Like the cry from the heart of her heroine Ana who, at 70 years old, can live detached from the diktat of the different men (her father, her brother, her husband, etc.) who have always ruled her existence and violated her body. Memories of a burning body opens with this woman cleaning the dust on photo frames which will constitute the backbone of the back and forth between this nightmarish past and this present of all possibilities, including that of finally discovering orgasm. Since her first short film, Costa Rican Antonella Sudassassi Furniss has wanted to tell the story of women's relationship to sexuality, at different ages of their lives. His first short, The Awakening of the haunts: childoodin 2016, recounted the discovery of the orgasm by a teenager.

His first feature, Hormigas (available on Prime Video) followed the rebellion of a woman – perfect mother, wife and daughter-in-law – when she is pressured to have a second child. And Memories of a burning bodynourished by numerous testimonies that she has collected, is therefore interested in elderly women who are most of the time totally invisible when it comes to talking about sexuality. All these confidences – from the most violent to the most joyful, from oppression to liberation – are found here united in a single character, this Ana, like the Daughters of Olfa and of little girl blueAntonella Sudassassi Furniss embraces by intertwining documentary and fiction in an inventive staging populated with poetic moments that keep the film on a tightrope between harshness and tenderness, telling the story of a woman refusing to feel sorry for herself but impatient for the beautiful moments to come . Impressive.

By Antonella Sudassassi Furniss. With Sol Carballo, Paulina Bernini, Juliana Filloy… Duration 1h30. Released November 20, 2024