The movie Thursday Widows by Claudia Piñeiro is a complex story full of violence. First of all, I found quite interesting the title since that is how the group of rich ladies meet every Thursday while their husbands are playing cards. These ladies are called widows because that’s the only day they get away from their “home” life, away from their children, away from being mothers and away from their husbands. These ladies just meet for fun and for free themselves from regular duties. However, I found quite interesting that at the end of the movie, the title “Thursday Widows” actually becomes real. Since three of the Ladies’ husbands die. Interestingly, they commit suicide due to their emptiness, yet the widows believe it was a crime.
The film also emphasizes how rich people seem to have everything but at the same time not everything is perfect for them. Argentina, the country where the movie is taking place, is having a lot of economic issues; people beg for food and violence is taking place. One can understand that Argentina was facing very difficult times and even for rich people it was seen as a threat. Moreover, the fact that there are several scenes of sexual violence within this rich community, emphasizes that also rich people struggle, and “fine manners” that are expected from this status are fallacies.
Hello Maria! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I found the title quite amusing as well, though I wondered if there was something more to the joke considering the outcome of the film. Of course, it could quite simply be that The Thursday Widows became actual widows, but this doesn’t work to the fullest extent since it’s still limited to Thursdays. This makes me think the message is a bit more sinister – that even after their husbands’ deaths, they are still just “Thursday Widows”, since it’s only on that day, when they meet, that the absence of their husbands means anything. That is, they weren’t really widowed before, and they still aren’t now, since they don’t care.
Hello Maria, 🙂
I also agree that the title alludes to the whole movie, and that we know from the beginning what will happen (the whole introduction of the film are shots of water with the three bodies inside, we do not know what happened but little by little as the film unfolds we see the real truth) as with the pro and analepsis helps to build up the tension/suspense.
To comment on the situation in Argentina and what you mentioned, the film exposes that even the richest are affected, we can see that they also show that for that type of families the only thing that matters is money and reputation, I take as an example that at the end when the widows hear the confession, Teresa says “or worse” you could have left us without the insurance money, or also when the children get together to get high they know exactly where to put themselves so as not to be seen, etc. Maintaining appearances even when their husbands are dead is the most important thing for them.
Hi Maria,
Regarding the fact that the widows believed it was a crime, I wonder if this is symbolic of them wanting to place blame elsewhere when it comes to other matters as well. The beginning of the movie is set up to have us view their husbands as victims, and we are left wondering who might’ve killed them. But, of course, the real killers were themselves. Similarly, the gated community and surveillance were set up to keep out potential criminals, but it is Tano, one of the more popular residents, that takes advantage of others financially. However, no one (other than Ronnie) appears to question this; the rest view Tano as a victim of crime and never any sort of perpetrator.
This is a great reading of a literalized metaphor, María!