THE STORY – Chile, 1955. When the popular writer María Carolina Geel kills her lover, the case captivates Mercedes, the shy paralegal of the judge in charge of the case. After visiting the writer’s apartment, Mercedes begins to question her life, identity, and the role of women in society as she finds an oasis of freedom in that home.
THE CAST – Elisa Zulueta, Francisca Lewin, Marcial Tagle, Pablo Macaya & Gabriel Urzúa
THE TEAM – Maite Alberdi (Director), Inés Bortagaray & Paloma Salas (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 89 minutes
In Maite Alberdi’s period piece “In Her Place,” we first meet the protagonist Mercedes (Elisa Zulueta) in a place of domesticity. She steps into the role of a wife and mother, making sure her sons are ready for breakfast while her husband, Efraín (Pablo Macaya), eagerly awaits his only customers of the day. Efraín takes pictures for a living, turning the family home into a studio when a newly engaged couple arrives for wedding portraits. Efraín holds the camera, but one can sense from the piece of advice Mercedes gives him (as well as the intonation in Zulueta’s performance) that she has a sharper eye for her surroundings. In a house that holds space for his creative endeavors, she yearns for a room of her own.
Working as a legal secretary for a judge, Mercedes finds escapism in the true story of María Carolina Geel (Francisca Lewin), an author who murdered her lover at the Hotel Crillón in 1955 in Santiago, Chile. When Mercedes and María Carolina lock eyes outside the courthouse early on in the film, an intangible connection forms. It’s a spark that the film rests on; both women share an unspoken understanding that they exist under a patriarchal lens, and the film explores how they each engage in an inner fight for visibility. As María Carolina builds her own creative freedom writing from a prison cell, Mercedes feels seen through a growing fascination with the author’s life. Alberdi tells the story through a revolving door of ideas, following Mercedes from one place to another in pursuit of self-identity. “In Her Place” may not have all the answers to such a pursuit, but it poses some intriguing questions about women’s visibility that transcends place and time.
Set in 1950s Chile, “In Her Place” draws inspiration from intersecting subjects of historical literature, true crime, and gender roles. María Carolina Geel served a short prison sentence for her crime, “Only 541 days,” as a newspaper headline reads. The film conveys the sensationalism of this case from various angles, from the crowds of reporters outside the courtroom to the mounting pressure on the judge not to let her off. Otherwise, he would prolong the media circus. Another headline appears on screen, this one seemingly a direct response to her short sentencing. The impossibility to “ignore the plea by our brilliant writer,” in reference to a letter María Carolina had written before she was pardoned, opens a door to the subject of how women held onto visibility in Chilean society. María Carolina creates her own freedom through writing, as she could not find liberation in any other role. She was not the type of woman who preferred to sit facing the room while dining (as witness testimonies reveal), nor the type used to staying in a prison cell (as her defense lawyer argues), nor the type made for the institution of marriage (as her own character states). The film not only interrogates the press and public’s reaction to the case but also what their attitudes say about the societal expectations placed on women.
Screenwriters Inés Bortagaray and Paloma Salas subvert expectations of a true crime story by pushing beyond a “crime of passion” narrative and exploring the crime of being an artist and a woman in spaces of gender roles and domesticity. We never really get a sense of María Carolina’s motivations or the full backstory of events leading up to the murder. The film shifts focus onto portraying her character in the context of women who were pardoned of crimes because a conviction would have extended their visibility in society. The 2019 novel “Las Homicidas,” written by Alia Trabucco Zeran, served as an inspiration for the screenplay. The novel chronicles four women (including María Carolina) who were pardoned after murdering their lovers. The film intertwines themes from this text with the invention of Mercedes, who witnesses María Carolina’s self-defined freedom and wants the same for herself.
This blend of fictional storytelling with a non-fiction backdrop gives Alberdi an opportunity to exercise her documentarian sensibilities in a new format. From 2020’s “The Mole Agent” to 2023’s “The Eternal Memory,” both of which received Oscar nominations for Best Documentary Feature, Alberdi has shone brightly in the documentary space. There’s an intimate throughline in both of these films; she follows character-driven threads to tell humanistic stories. She brings that same approach, along with her investigative spirit, to “In Her Place,” which marks her first fictional feature. Alberdi finds narrative tension in places of interior conflict and adds layers of playfulness and humor for levity. While the screenplay lacks in-depth characterization, often holding the characters at a distance, Alberdi’s observational direction manages to fill in some of the gaps by capturing strong performers in action. She presents a visual connection between two women that echoes how we can find pieces of ourselves through the lives of others when Mercedes lets her fascination run – from wearing María Carolina’s clothes to putting on her makeup, and even assuming a temporary identity as her cousin – these small acts of defense bridge a better understanding of herself.
The film’s visual language also complements the fiction and non-fiction blend. The costumes and production design are specific to a 1950s period piece, while the use of tilt-shift lenses creates a dreamlike sensory atmosphere. Alberdi approaches scenes from the past, not as clear-cut flashbacks but rather as blurry-edged fragments of one’s imagination. There’s a surrealist quality to the ethereal recreation of the Hotel Crillón, the scene of the crime. This play on reimagined perspectives creates settings that are specific to a time and place yet also feel transcendent. One of the best uses of the setting in the film is María Carolina’s vacant apartment. Mercedes inhabits the place first out of obligation, asked by the judge to pick up clothing and bare essentials. But this place soon transports her into a transient existence. Meticulously organized and lined with colorful accents, the apartment gives Mercedes the feeling of personal space. It’s peaceful and quiet, a change from the noise of responsibilities she faces both at home and at work. It’s full of color, a striking contrast to the sterile grey interiors Mercedes typically inhabits. She tries on María Carolina’s world for a change, which opens the door to a room of one’s own.
While that room may hold emotional satisfaction for Mercedes, the film itself loses emotional impact through uneven writing and fleeting pacing. The story presents fascinating themes but leaves you wanting more in-depth perspectives on both women beyond their surface-level connection. The film takes too many steps back from the characters’ internal conflicts and, as a result, unfolds more like a procedural than an insightful character study. However, Alberdi makes an intriguing case by looking historically at how women’s societal roles impacted their visibility. The film draws strong inspiration from literature, as well as 1950s Chilean society, to visualize the defense of creative spaces, which women continue to fight for to this day. As stated in the film, “the art of today is inspired by the art of yesterday.” Continuing in the vein of “The Mole Agent” and “The Eternal Memory,” “In Her Place” encourages the viewer to engage in contemporary themes from worlds of the past.
