Kékszakállú is an unconventional portrayal of several young women witnessed in immersive yet indeterminate states: within their bodies, among their friends and lovers, and ultimately in a culture of economic and spiritual recession. The torpor of boredom and privilege is undercut by the vicissitudes of Argentina’s economic malaise, forcing the offspring of a vanishing upper class to extricate themselves from the props of familial privilege. The film presents a documentary-like exposure of the quotidian while extending possibilities for redemption among this brood of the weary. Obliquely inspired by Bela Bartok’s sole opera, Kékszakállú radically transposes the portent of Bluebeard’s Castle into something far less recognizable: a tale of generational inertia, situated between the alternating and precisely rendered tableaux of work and repose in Buenos Aires and Punta del Este.

“Kékszakállú works best as pure cinema, mostly divorced from narrative; some of its most memorable moments don’t even really contribute to the vague theme that gradually emerges.” – Mike D’Angelo, AV Club

“Like Shohei Imamura, Argentinian writer-director Gaston Solnicki can be understood as a cinematic entomologist.” – Clayton Dillard, Slant

“Solnicki gives a refined vision of formal precision and an enervating narrative brilliance that imposes a trance that suspends time and generates states of boredom and ecstasy.” – JJ Negrete, Butaca Ancha