Because of the pandemic and more quotidian life changes, two couples, Elena (itsaso Arana) and Daniel, nicknamed Dani (Vito Sanz), and Susana, nicknamed Su (Irene Escolar) and Guillermo, nicknamed Guille (Francesco Carril), are trying to reignite their friendship after a long time apart. “Teneis que venir a verla” (2022), which means “You Have to Come and See It,” unfolds two separate times: during a late 2020 winter evening orbiting Madrid’s Café Central where real life pianist Chano Dominguez is playing, and six months later during a 2021 spring day in Atocha, a neighboring suburb. The film is devoted to memorializing their time together and Elena and Dani reflecting on the effect of their extended time apart, comparing the difference in their lives and philosophizing about the interplay between nature, civilization and humanity. Jonas Trueba wrote and directed the film, which is too long to be called a short, but too short to be called a feature. Is there an equivalent term for novella in cinema?
Without dialogue, the opening sequence introduces each character with an extended close-up shot, and the actors are so deft that they convey everything about their respective character’s temperament by just showing how they are receiving Dominguez’s performance. The contemplative Elena, a writer, is a romantic intellectual who feels deeply. She lightly touches her neck with her hand in a soothing motion without tearing her eyes away from the front. By eating and drinking, Dani, an artist, is the most fidgety and redirects his nervous energy into acceptable vessels around him. It appears painful for him to stay rooted in one place. While appreciating the music, Su also seems distracted and pleased and occasionally diverts her focus to her surroundings. Focused on the music, Guille is riveted and nods emphatically in appreciation.
Masked café workers occupy the blurry background, but they are the only ones. It gets established early on that Guille and Su used to live in Madrid, but moved to the suburbs and invite their friends to visit with reassurances that Atocha is not far away. They also make an unplanned big announcement that Su is pregnant. “Teneis que venir a verla” deserves kudos for not following the usual narrative steps like disagreements between Dani and Elena over their shared future. They do not talk about babies or argue after comparing themselves to their friends and finding themselves lacking. Instead, once the couples part ways, Trueba gives a glimpse of Dani and Elena’s life together. While their connection to each other seems uneven, it is functional enough. Dani’s nervous energy carries over into their time together. She finds ordinary ways to extend an invitation to communicate, but he sets himself apart but eventually catches up when she turns to other diversions such as reading German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk’s 2009 book “You Must Change Your Life.” Their dynamic continues throughout the film. Dani also questions the need to continue their friendship with Guille and Su now that their life paths have diverged.
Like “All of Us Strangers” (2023), the main theme is a silent competition between the nature of city and suburban life with the prior being cold and isolated and the latter being warm and social. Trains also play a role as Dani follows Elena’s lead by reading her book while Elena watches the train view. Elena has the capacity to live in the moment. Trueba devotes a lot of tracking shots from passengers’ point of view from the train and a car. The tracking shots and story act as complementary verse and reprisal, almost like photographic negative images that function as a visual metaphor for the interior journey reversing their separation and creating the necessary conditions to be reunited. The bodies movement from Madrid to Atoicha has an internal effect in attitude which allows Dani to seek connection with Elena and appear more romantic and playful.
Regardless of whether divided by gender, shared history or disposition, the Atocha scenes show the group as a whole and having the flexibility to shuffle and break off into a variety of pairings thus revealing multiple harmonious communal possibilities. More details are revealed about the characters’ backstory. Elena and Guille are childhood friends, and he encourages her intellectual enthusiasm whereas Dani seems mixed between amusement and a smidge of embarrassment. Su is more interested in personal antidotes and relationships than theory but plays along with Elena’s musings. It is implied that the tour of the house and the neighborhood seems to sway Dani and Elena into becoming country mice so they can continue to have a rich life, but nothing is explicitly stated. It is just good vibes and is a way to return to a social life after the pandemic without a mask in sight.
If you imbue as much, if not more, importance on friendship, the nurturing of community and the nature of becoming an adult in the twenty first century as romance, then consider “Teneis que venir a verla” an unofficial entry in the “Before” franchise. Trueba uses his deliberately paced narrative and character study to apply and depict the principles of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk’s 2009 book “You Must Change Your Life.” As Elena summarizes throughout the film, Sloterdijk suggests that while human advances are good, they come at a high price, the destruction of nature and distract from the inevitable mortality, which is hastened with the destruction of the climate. The antidote is to destroy at least mental alienation and isolation from others to create a liminal community with imagination creating the connection to make peace with nature and a healthier civilization. So, the story of these two couples becomes a literal test of whether philosophy can work in real life and ends with a lyrical postscript that breaks the fourth wall to reveal behind the scenes production and change the film texture to a nostalgic hazy hue with snapshots of the actors and fragments of earlier scenes intercut with nature shots.
While the acting is seamless and the visuals are gorgeous, philosophy is not everyone’s tea, and “Teneis que venir a verla” will not appeal to many since some scenes last a beat or two longer than even the greatest lover of independent film or Chantal Akerman fan would want. Even though it is a short movie, it feels longer because of the time that Trueba devotes to every action. For example, he allows Dominguez’s entire song to play instead of excerpted. The camera is almost a separate character who anticipates people’s intentions before they make a move. Whether interior or exterior, the space and how people move in it reflects the health of relationships and individuals. Dani and Elena’s home is darker and smaller, especially the table, which consequently affects the amount of time that they spend together whereas Su and Guille have more room, which allows more people to occupy the same space and build upon existing relationships. While these moments are simple, universal pleasures, some viewers will complain that nothing happens, which is not fair but to be expected. Another theme in the Sloterdijk discourse is the capacity of consumers to engage deeply with art, which is reflected in the way that everyone engages with his book and Elena’s ideas. It is interesting that Dani is an artist, yet he has the hardest time engaging with others and their creative endeavors. If in turn, someone comes to a movie not expecting to reflect upon it deeply, then Trueba’s work is not for them.
“Teneis que venir a verla” is for the philosophy lovers, but is ultimately a slight, impressionist work when in terms of narrative and character development. While it offers a much needed countercultural way of depicting mature relationships, it sacrifices too much to move forward its theoretical, academic ambitions instead of folding it into the plot.
