08 · 02 · 23

Disappearances, "one of the deepest wounds in this country": Interview with Arcelia Ramírez

Gabriela Martínez

Gabriela Martínez

Translator, Andrea Cabrera

After winning the Courage Award, granted in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, and its special presentation at the 19th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), La civil, by the Romanian filmmaker Teodora Mihai, will be part of the program Cine para todxs 2023, an exhibition program in community spaces of Mexican, contemporary and classic films, which have marked the history of national cinema. All the work has been carried out by filmmakers who have been part of the programming of past editions of the FICM.

La civil tells the story of Cielo, a mother whose daughter, Laura, is kidnapped in northern Mexico. Despite having paid multiple ransoms, Laura does not return. When the authorities do not offer support for the search, Cielo decides to take matters into her own hands, transforming herself from a housewife to a militant in search of justice.

Within this new cycle of Cine para todxs, the FICM had the opportunity to talk with Arcelia Ramírez, the star of the film, who shared her experience playing this complex character, inspired by the true story of Miriam Rodríguez Martínez, a woman who was murdered outside her house after investigating, pursuing and finding the kidnappers and murderers of her daughter.

Likewise, the actress said she was very happy, because "the space where La Civil first met her audience in Mexico is where they now receive her to give the viewer a chance to see her on the big screen, in that incredible space that is the Teatro Mariano Matamoros".

In the same way, she invited the public to enjoy "a material that will enrich them, that will entertain them, move them and that will make them reflect".

FICM: How did you join Teodora Mihai's project?           

Arcelia Ramírez: The first thing that happened was that Teodora sent me an email, because she lives in Belgium, and she sent me an invitation directly to the project. I didn't have to do casting or anything. She told me that it was a co-production between Belgium, with the brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Darden; Romania, with the office of Cristian Mungiu, and that someone was going to take the Mexican co-production, which at that time did not yet exist. Then, Michel Franco was included. She send me the script in that email for me to read it and told me that if I liked it, the role was mine.

Well, yes, I did like the script. When I read it I found it to be one of the most powerful scripts I have ever read in my life and the character was fascinating, so I immediately replied to tell her what I thought of the script. So we started communicating, virtually at first obviously, and then, when she was able to come to Mexico, I received the script in 2019, the pandemic hit. We filmed in the middle of the pandemic, when there were still no vaccines. There was a very strict sanitation protocol and it was until Teodora was able to come to Mexico, that we met in person for a month and a half to work on the film, on the character herself, which caught my attention the most.

In theory, it is a film that talks about one of the deepest wounds in this country and it is an unacceptable situation that we live in Mexico. The number of missing persons is absolutely inadmissible.

When I read the script I found it a privilege to be able to put on the table a film that encouraged the reflection and analysis of a complex problem that we have to talk about, and we must unravel the reasons why we live in such a situation in this country. It seemed to me also that she was a woman who, in addition to taking the search for her daughter into her own hands, took her own life, you know? I found it very exciting how she was finding her own strength, even with the absolute submission to the machismo of her ex-husband. When she realizes that she is helpless, that there is no authority that supports her, that there is no system that is at her disposal for the search for her daughter, and that her husband does everything wrong, she begins to search on her own, leaning on her wit, intelligence and intuition. In the midst of tragedy, she discovers herself. She discovers the woman whe didn't know she was.

I found all that very exciting, it was a very big responsibility for us to be giving voice to this very delicate problem and, above all, it was rewarding to be able to raise awareness of the disappearances in Mexico.

FICM: Regardless of the production issues due to the pandemic, did you face any obstacles as an actress when playing Cielo?

AR: Well, more than an obstacle, was the permanent challenge of verifying a scene every day. Each one was harder than the previous one. That's not usual. It's a movie where the character comes into scene all the time, so every day there were many scenes that involved a difficulty. But beyond that, I had no problem with myself to get into character.

Teodora and I, in the previous sessions we had for the preparation of the character, talked about each scene, each objective, each obstacle, each intention. These exercises also greatly strengthened our relationship as a director and actress. We had a lot of confidence in each other when developing my character, we managed to establish a common language.

I understood very well what Teodora wanted, especially the tone in which she wanted to narrate this film. That cost me a lot of work, actually. Since we are talking about difficulties, the tone was one because it is a film where the character is in a very painful situation. It is an ordeal, but she cannot afford weakness because she needs to achieve his goal, which is to find her daughter. So, Teodora did not allow me to overflow with emotion, she always wanted me to keep myself together. That was a great exercise for me.

FICM: Did you expect to have that reaction from the audience at the Cannes Film Festival?

AR: No, not at all. When Teodora told me that we had been selected, we were already absolutely happy and honored to be there. I didn't expect that response full of such overwhelming generosity. The truth is that it is one of the most beautiful things that have happened to me in my life because of that, because I did not expect it at all. Of course, you always expect the audience to receive the film in a good way, to connect with it. But this was an absolute empathy with the character of Cielo, with the film in general. So, it was very exciting, especially since it was the first on-site edition of the festival after the pandemic. I was discovering the film for the first time in my life on that beautiful screen at the Theatre Debussy, where they show the films of the Un Certain Regard section.

All of that made it a truly unique experience. When the movie was over, I had a lump in my throat. When I turned around and started to hear the applause and the ovation, I ended up crying because I was very moved.