Memoria is a film of exceptional quality directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul starring Tilda Swinton. Upon receiving the Jury Prize Weerasethakul said that the two of them have a fruiful collaboration that they will be continuing in future films.

Swinton plays Jessica Holland, an Englishwoman living in Medellín who runs a flowershop. She visits her sister who is in the hospital in Bogota and suddenly begins hearing a haunting booming noise. She has Hernán (Juan Pablo Urrego), a young sound engineer recreate it on his synthesiser. He asks to travel with her in search of the sound but then disappears. The sound continues intermittently.

When she later returns to the studio where she met Diaz no one has heard of him. The sound is so perplexing to her that she seeks out a psychiatrist, Dr. Constanza (Constanza Guitérrez) for tranquillisers to calm her although that is not what the doctor thinks is best. Jessica asks her if Salvador Dali ever took drugs. The doctor explains that Columbia is known for “strange occurrences”. When she drives back to Medellín  the road is blocked by police. She gets out and while walking along a river she comes across an older Hernán (Elkin Díaz)who is cleaning off the scales of fish.

In their meeting she learns from Hernan about collective memory,  how it is connected to the past of Columbia and to the booming sound she hears.

©Moira Jean Sullivan Filmfestivals.com July 31, 2021

FIPRESCI

Photos©Festival de Cannes