Adapting totally the historical occurence in Madrid of an attack on a left-wing lawyers' office in Atocha, a suburb of Madrid, and transposing it to another formula but with similar `underhand' political connotations, rife in those early days of the transition in Spain towards democracy, `Sé Quién Eres' (I know who you are) builds up a neat mystery thriller, a little in the style of some of those classic detective novels by such writers as Patricia Highsmith or Raymond Chandler and turned into films.
Mario, since that rather horrific night, lapses into a peculiar state of loss of memory called the Korsakof Syndrome, and gets taken into the nursing home of a doctor, Paloma, who is at once fascinated by but rather fearful of this rather unpredictable man. The story unfolds between Galicia and Madrid, flashback scenes gradually slotting into place, with a couple of brief excursions into what might be termed `over-the-top exaggerations', which, mercifully, do not spoil the film.
The rhythm of the film is intentionally held at a low-key pitch, maintaining a rather quietened almost psychological balance, rather than the intrepid pace of gun-toting detectives in full flight behind equally armed villains, gangsters, or what-have-you. The result is a film which keeps the viewer interested, despite certain flaws in some scenes which interrupted a little the rhythm of the piece.
The cast is good very good. Ana Fernández has attracted me for some time now, and I think we can safely say she is among the best two or three Spanish actresses of the moment the other is Ariadna Gil (qv). Ana Fernández was excellent in `Solas' (1999)(qv) and this, together with `You're the One' and `Hable con Ella' show that she is a good choice for character-driven story-lines. Miguel Ángel Solá is definitely up to the mark here, playing opposite Fernández. Vicky Peña as Sarah is worthy of mention for her small part.
Alcaine's photography is good and José Nieto, as ever, gives us an interesting score, albeit somewhat remeniscent at times of Chandler country perhaps. He has long been one of Spain's top two or three composers for films and TV programmes.
Despite certain loose wanderings and the use of obvious standardised architecture for films of this genre, Patricia Ferreira has made, with this film, a promising start to her career.
