Carmen

When the priest of a small Maltese parish dies, his longtime caretaker and housekeeper (his younger, now-spinsterly sister) finds herself without living or working arrangements. What is she to do to support herself? Such is the lot of Carmen, the title character of this slightly whimsical but vastly underdeveloped, allegedly fact-based tale of a woman seeking to discover and reinvent herself at middle age. Writer-director Valerie Buhagiar's latest tries to keep its story light and bouncy, but it often does so without much direction, purpose or follow-through with regard to the various disconnected incidents that arise. It's almost as if the picture is trying to get by on a bucket full of charm and the frequent employment of synchronicities, many of which are supposed to seem meaningful but often go without explanation. The result is a largely pointless exercise in trying to tell a tale that should be full of warmth, fun, lightheartedness and redemption. It's also a missed opportunity to showcase the talent of Natascha McElhone in what should have been one of her best performances in years. But, as it plays now, "Carmen" is, regrettably, more like an inside joke that most of us are being left out of.

A little independent arthouse film, that is quite charming and enjoyable, if you are able to dispend some disbelief about the credibility of the story, which I didnt find hard to do, because this movie has got such an endearing story.

Not any bad? Well, this is probably best suited for a (patience) arthouse audience, who dont mind watching a story unravel slowly.

The good: beautifully photographed, well acted, with an uplifting, endearing story about a woman who accidentally gets mistaken for a priest and decides to seize this opportunity to do some good with her newfound status.

Left me with a smile on my face. Lovely!

In a sleepy town on Malta, Carmen (Natascha McElhone) has been taking care of her brother, the local priest, since she was 16 years old. One day, he drops dead and she is left all alone in the world. A new priest is taking over with his own sister housekeeper. Carmen is expected to leave for her family even though she has none. She finds herself taking confessions from the town folks and searching for a life of her own.

Sin is the central theme of this movie. It's the heartbreaking reveal. Rita is obsessed with it. The women in town suffered under it. The movie should open with the priest berating the women and warning against the sin of disobeying their husbands. That would set up the rest of the movie much better. I really love the confessions. It is noticeable that McElhone is changing her hair color along the way. That may be too much. She should keep her greys. This is a wonderful little movie.

Thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a 50 year old Catholic woman relegated to serving her much older priest brother. When he dies and she is left alone with no money, she gets creative. Most of the film is about her innovative and sometimes surprising choices as she survives and transforms.

Set in Malta, the scenery and architecture are beautiful. Most of the plot is situational, so there is little character development, aside from Carmen herself.

If you are looking for realism, this not your movie. If you enjoy imagining alternate realities, ridiculous events, and happy, though implausible endings, this is it! You won't be sorry.

Since the late WWII period, when she was 16, Carmen has been the unpaid housekeeper for her brother, the local priest. When he dies suddenly in the 1980s, a local woman's brother is supposed to be the replacement priest, and that woman will act as his housekeeper, displacing Carmen. The Catholic Church hypocritically and heartlessly throws Carmen out on the street, where she has various adventures and misadventures, helped in part by her knowledge of church processes.

Her backstory is that her life was saved by a young Arab, with whom she fell in love, and with family opposition, her role as housekeeper was the equivalent of "get thee to a nunnery".

Carmen's transformation from dour housekeeper to glamorous woman was a delight, as was the scenery. While this was "based on a true story", I wonder how much is fiction. Carmen seems to be good at giving advice to others, while she seems so naive herself. Meanwhile, the ending is a tad too Shakespearean for me.