Awarded with the prize "un certain regard" at the Cannes Film Festival, Michel Franco's second film deals with a social problem largely present in cinema: school bullying in the digital age. The shooting and the framing, specially the fix off-camera shots, as well as the long silences, immerse the public into the deepness of Alejandra's emotions (superbly played by Tessa Ia). Rough, bitter and cold, the harassment scenes come one after another and we enter a kind of vicious circle in which freedom does not exist. Any type of rationality, understanding or communication are in vain in this compulsory contemplation of violence whose origin is unknown by the victim and, maybe, even by the aggressors. The lack of communication and the sobriety of the photography provide more realism to the movie. Finally, the long sequence shot at the ending enhances the beauty and coldness of the whole. With "After Lucia", Michel France offers at the same time a pessimist but realistic and universal vision of the world, in which a simple action in the social media can make a durable impact in anyone's life. Full review on our blog Los Indiscretos : https://losindiscretos.org

Let me start by saying, I thought this film was difficult to get through – but at the same time, it kept me captivated and anxious to see what could possibly happen next. The level of cruelty in staggering, yet sadly, I'm sure things of this nature happen quite often. There were several times when I simply starred wide-eyed at the screen in disbelief. I wanted Ale to snap and retaliate, but she takes it all, without a peep. Hard to believe kids can be that cruel. Cinematically, I thought the camera work was done well. Great composition of shots, and the lighting was great throughout. There were many long shots, and not a lot of dialogue, which made the film unfold slowly. I thought the direction, and editing were done well. I liked the acting, especially that of Ia, her blank face added a another dimension to the film. Overall, a well made film, though very intense and heartbreaking, making it bit disturbing to watch.

I give 3/10 only for the bullying storyline... This film in my opinion was a total waste of time; if you want to see a film documenting school bullying, where you're pretty much accepting to visually endure severe abuse of a person, who quickly gives in trying to protect themselves then you may appreciate the film.The main character accepts weakness pretty quickly as she falls into depression and accepts all the abuse. In the end I imagine the intention of the film is to suggest she made all the bullies feel guilty for what they had done to her, as they believed her to be dead somewhere in the ocean, whereas she was in fact truly alive back in her native hometown.However, I found this film could have said as much if it was a 15minute short and in reality I don't believe her death would affect the bullies so much, if people can be as cruel to torture a human they previously associated with as a friend, then I do not personally believe the guilt would be a tremendous debt for them to live with. The final scene where one bully is thrown into the ocean is great but i'd rather it have been the fat rapist than the guy she consensually had sex on camera with, yes it was disgusting that the sh1thead posted that to her father or whoever did, I just think they all deserved abuse back but mostly the rapist and the girls because they abused her the most severely. Better ending? If he fed all of their bodies to sharks :)

I saw this film at the Ghent filmfestival 2012. A chef (Roberto) and his daughter (Alejandra) move to a city where both are new. Their wife resp. mother has recently died in a car accident, and their move seems a recipe to get some distance from what happened and an attempt to deal with their loss. Father and daughter follow their own path to get settled in their new environment.We see Roberto starting to work in a restaurant, but his depressive mood and sudden impatience hinders him from a fruitful working relationship with co-workers. He quits suddenly, but that solved nothing and he regrets this hasty decision. We see him later on working as a chef again. But the remembrance of his loss continues to haunt him. His depressions and anger are never taken out on his daughter, however.Alejandra seems to get along well with her new classmates, and integrates remarkably fast. That turns around when a film showing her being drunk and having sex during a party, happens to be published on Internet. That triggers an unbelievable amount of bullying by her classmates, often to such an extent that you eagerly want to look away. But you can't, while the camera is close by and does not let go.It is difficult to believe that the young players are all amateurs with no previous experience on stage or film-set. They have a significant part in the proceedings, be it the collective bullying of Alejandra, or the collective silence when interrogated by teachers about what is going on. The boys and the girls play equal roles in the bullying. I see them showing a very natural way of behaving, even with the camera very close.The collective mindset, all against one, is not easy to watch. Teachers nor parent have any idea that worrisome things are going on. You feel alone with Alejandra. With apparently no one to rescue her, it is all very disturbing to witness. Teachers are not aware, because these school kids are too old to need constant supervision, and have a lot of leeway to fill their own time. The parent (Roberto) is not aware that anything bad is happening with Alejandra. As a loving daughter she takes all trouble to shield her father from any bad news, observing his depressive moods. Not until very very late in the story we see involvement of teachers and parent.A few loose ends remain unexplained, maybe only to show Roberto's depressive mood and nothing else. Best example is that in the beginning of the film we see that he let a garage fully restore his wife's car after a crash, to subsequently abandon it somewhere with the keys inside to continue his journey on foot. Halfway the film we see the same car wrecked again after a disastrous joy riding. Similar inconsistencies I have with Roberto's job at a the restaurant where he works at first, then quits, and later on resumed working without much explanation. All things considered, these are minor details.The camera closes in on the story. The situation gets from bad to ugly, and without anyone on the rescue. I consider this a very strong feature of this film, letting us watch what happens from very close. You get involved, willingly or not. I scored a 5 (out of 5) for the audience award when leaving the theater. In hindsight, though not as bad as Alejandra, I feel a bit lonely too when seeing that this film ended on the 38th place for the audience award, in my opinion undeservedly surpassed by several films with much less qualities.