Critics: Criticism of “Asphyxiated”, by Luciano Podcaminsky, with Leonardo Sbaraglia and Julieta Díaz

Not even two talented performers like Sbaraglia and Díaz manage to save this story about the crisis of a long-term marriage set almost entirely on board a yacht.

Nacho (Leonardo Sbaraglia) runs a production company that is about to make an ambitious series with Natalia Oreiro (the star has a couple of appearances via Zoom). In addition, for 24 years he has been married to Lucía (Julieta Díaz), a photographer who owns a charming restaurant. They both seem to have it all: a mansion with a swimming pool, a luxurious convertible car, a yacht and, most importantly, a smart teenage daughter. But, as soon as one digs into that shiny surface, secrets and lies, routines and contempt, frustrations and resentments, begin to emerge.

From the beginning we know that Lucía and her daughter Camila (Sofía Zaga Masri) have a joint project at a very advanced stage, but Lucía can’t find the time, the way or directly doesn’t dare to tell Nacho. Their last chance will be aboard the imposing ship that he has bought during a trip that they will share with a friend of his, Ramiro (Marco Antonio Caponi), and his young girlfriend Cleo (Zoe Hochbaum).

After this prologue, the film takes place on board the yacht (the daytime scenes on deck are real and the rest were recreated in studios) and describe the progressive process of decomposition of the couple as these lies surface, almost always in the worst way. manner.

What at first appeared as a light matrimonial comedy and even with comic twists is transformed with the passing of just over an hour and a half of story into something much sicker and more oppressive. The problem is that this reversal is somewhat clumsy at times, since the film deals with quite elemental and predictable conflicts about the affective and professional crisis in maturity.

In this sense, two very good interpreters like Sbaraglia and Díaz bring out all their professionalism to cope with characters without too many nuances (he, a very denier workaholic with macho traits; she, a frustrated woman looking for a shortcut to get out of the trap marriage) in a film that also appeals to symbolism, allegories and fairly obvious parallels (mechanical problems, an imminent storm, a possible shipwreck). On a formal level, Luciano Podcaminsky and his cinematographer Nicolás Trovato appeal to an overly cold aesthetic in which aerial shots with drones proliferate and a supposed sophistication that seems more typical of a credit card commercial than of an intimate drama like the which is narrated here.

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