Hypnosis to Be Happy

In this Genesis-in-reverse fable from Mexico, Felipe (Antón Araiza) and Pilar (Ericka Ramirez) escape the troubles of their separate lives as well as a rocky new relationship, literally returning to the garden for renewal. On their fourth date, in the film’s opening scene, the two roam through an art gallery so pristine, ethereal, and white it suggests the void that God recently filled with light only. Within are jet black, familiar sculptures, including Michelangelo’s “Pietà” and Rodin’s “The Thinker,” presaging (at least in this odd, suggestively Old Testament space) rough drafts of humanity and woes ahead. We hear Pilar and Felipe’s complaining inner thoughts about one another’s approaches to love and finding life’s meaning. And then at dinner, Felipe incredibly proposes to a stunned Pilar, who rejects him on the grounds that they barely know each other. A series of disturbing events follow that make Felipe look and act like an intimidating control freak—and Pilar is very anxious to get away. But things calm down and the two dive deep into a kind of paradise, where they are stripped of the neurotic agendas, mind games, and desperate impulses that drive so many of our actions. Filmmaker Victor Audiffred reflects on what it means to be a human rewinding to an original state of purity and wonder in this film that isn’t overtly Christian, but rather a story based on the touchstones of a creation myth. Recommended. (T. Keogh)