Suddenly
Diego Lerman

Nathalie Rothschild

Two lesbian girls calling themselves Mao and Lenin roam the streets of Buenos Aires, stealing whatever they take a fancy to. Meanwhile, the plump girl Marcia is obviously unsatisfied with her job as a sales assistant in a lingerie shop that does not seem to have any customers.

This black and white Argentinian road movie questions the necessity of living a mundane existence and complying with normative sexual identities. Marcia's home-tube-work-yoga-tube-home existence, which includes lonely dinners in front of the TV, leaves her reflecting on the life she would have led had the love of her life not left her for another woman.

Mao and Lenin, meanwhile, communicate with long glances and intuitive mind-reading. When Lenin spots Marcia on the street, the two lesbians jump into action. They stalk her aggressively and finally force her to stop. What follows is ambiguous; is Marcia really kidnapped and forced to follow the two lesbians, or do they spark some previously unknown desire in her to explore alternatives to her sexuality and to her dull, unfulfilling, life?

Had they merely suggested that Marcia take a trip with them, her free will would have compromised by convention and everyday concerns, but with the help of persuasion (Mao tells Marcia 'the only thing that delays love is action') and by pulling a knife, Mao and Lenin kickstart Marcia's spiritual journey. They hijack a taxi and drive to the sea, which Marcia has never seen before. They continue driving until the car stops and Lenin matter-of-factly announces; 'we're out of gas'. The journey with 'destination anywhere' begins.

The two lesbians make Marcia feel, not only through naïve discoveries such as that of the ocean or through unconventional sexual liaisons, but also more directly by treating her violently. Though we expect Marcia to be the one to change the most from this experience, the journey transforms Mao and Lenin as well. In the end, it is Mao who can't be alone (as the man with whom she finds companionship points out to her). Lenin (her real name is Veronica) is faced with the emptiness that is a consequence of breaking with one's family, and the girls' spontaneous stop at Lenin's aunt's house transforms the people living there as well.

Though Lenin and Mao seem to be mostly interested in stealing and having sex, they are neither a kleptomaniacs nor nymphomaniacs. According to themselves, they are not even lesbians. Lenin and Mao are not in a monogamous relationship. They wish to transcend categories, norms and rules. Their disruptive and, to some, disturbing, behaviour asks questions like 'why be scared?', 'why not explore?', 'why comply?'. But their rebellion does not seem to be very well thought through.

Their criticism of capitalist society does not go much further than adopting the names of communist leaders and refusing to put out their cigarettes in the no-smoking section of a Burger King restaurant, after complaining that they will only be treated with the respected granted to customers if they buy something.

Suddenly is thought-provoking and interesting, but as it falls squarely within the road movie genre, the format seems a bit too familiar. The journey begins and then has to come to an end, and in-between the protagonists go through processes of change and realisation prompted by new encounters and changing sceneries. It's a well-worn route.