Cannes Diary 09: Un Certain Regard Winner "The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo"

by Elisa Giudici

The freshly crowned winner of Un Certain Regard at Cannes, is one of several films this year to allegorically reimagine the trauma of the generation lost to AIDS, Diego Céspedes' debut feature is set in 1982 Chile. Céspedes envisions a tavern frequented by trans women who challenge and seduce the rugged local miners. These miners, despite formally opposing their presence, seem unable to resist their allure. Flamingo is the drag queen mother to the film’s young protagonist, who is raised by a vibrant collective of performers and sex workers known by animalistic names like Mama Boa, Spider, and Flamingo herself, whose gaze is said to hold an almost spellbinding power. Tragically she has already been touched by "the plague," the epidemic that also ravages the miners...

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo unfolds as a narrative where molten lava seems to mix with the white smoke emanating from a magnetic gaze. Here, love is contradictory, and pure violence can morph into tenderness in an instant. This dynamic plays out between two groups: the miners, with their thankless labor, and the community's marginalized "freaks" who band together against the violence targeting them for their identity. Ultimately, these groups find a deep understanding, proving more alike than initially perceived. Though brazen in their words, Céspedes' "animal women" are seen through the eyes of the young protagonist. Her belief in their tales, reminiscent of South American magical realism, casts a magical aura over the story, even as adult viewers discern the stark contradictions beneath.

The protagonists' audacity makes them compelling to follow, even in their suffering. Unlike Julia Ducournau's Alpha, which played in the main Competition, this film also excels in vividly portraying the contradictory, sometimes self-destructive, attitudes of those living on the margins who seek love, even while acutely aware of the risks of "contamination" a relationship might bring.

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