Shadows of Memory Ripple Beneath the Surface

Read Time:5 Minute, 13 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Currents (Las Corrientes)
–

Genre: Drama
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director(s): Milagros Mumenthaler
Writer(s): Milagros Mumenthaler
Cast: Isabel Aimé González-Sola, Esteban Bigliardi, Claudia Sánchez, Ernestina Gatti, Jazmín Carballo, Sara Bessio
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 San Sebastian Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: THE CURRENTS is a film that thrives on ambiguity. Milagros Mumenthaler’s latest feature resists the urge to explain itself, instead following a woman who is both at the peak of her professional success and at the edge of personal collapse. It’s a film about impulses—small ones that trigger tectonic shifts—and about how the past we try to bury finds its way back to the surface when we least expect it. The film is more a journey through time than a narrative construct; it’s about what life means to someone and the struggles they encounter.

At its center is Lina, a celebrated Argentine fashion designer portrayed by Isabel Aimé González-Sola. The film opens with her at an awards ceremony in Switzerland, basking in recognition, yet something in her gaze signals detachment. Soon after, she makes a sudden, inexplicable choice, an act that looks almost ritualistic, as though she’s surrendering to forces inside her she can’t articulate. She survives, returns to Buenos Aires, and tells no one what happened. But that silence becomes corrosive, unraveling her life in ways subtle at first, then suffocating.

Mumenthaler is no stranger to stories of women grappling with memory and loss—her earlier works explored bonds and collective trauma through observation. With THE CURRENTS, she sharpens her focus even further, stripping away almost everything except Lina’s perspective. The camera often lingers on her in states of stillness: sitting, walking, staring into water she can no longer face. These moments, though sparse in dialogue, bristle with interiority. González-Sola gives a commanding performance, embodying Lina as both untouchable in her professional world and fragile in her private one.

The film’s metaphor—water as both cleansing and threatening—is hardly subtle, but it’s effective. Lina develops aquaphobia. Every day tasks become impossible. She cannot bathe, cannot approach pools or rivers. What should be ordinary becomes unbearable, reflecting how unprocessed trauma warps reality. This motif could have become heavy-handed, yet Mumenthaler handles it with restraint, allowing the fear to seep into the film’s fabric rather than dominate it. The water is always present, even when unseen, shaping the story with its absence.

The supporting cast offers texture without diluting the central portrayal. Esteban Bigliardi, as Lina’s husband Pedro, provides a grounded but limited perspective—a man aware that something is wrong but unable to penetrate his wife’s silence. Claudia Sánchez, Ernestina Gatti, and Jazmín Carballo each embody figures from Lina’s world, rather than being an overwhelming presence. This imbalance is deliberate. The story is less about relationships than about isolation, about how success and recognition can’t shield someone from the weight of unresolved pasts.

Shot across Switzerland and Argentina, it utilizes cold European landscapes and the warmer, yet equally alienating, streets of Buenos Aires to mirror Lina’s fractured state. Cinematographer Gabriel Sandru captures both environments with precision: the crisp grays of Geneva’s stone bridges, the muted urban sprawl of Argentina. These spaces never feel like backdrops but extensions of Lina’s mind—spaces that confine rather than liberate. The lighthouse sequence, singled out by critics, exemplifies this: beauty and terror intertwine in a moment that’s both cinematic spectacle and psychological rupture.

Mumenthaler’s direction leans into this discomfort. The narrative structure is linear, but its emotional trajectory feels cyclical, as if Lina is caught in currents she cannot escape. It wears its influences openly while carving out its own identity—a blend of Argentine sensibility and European arthouse austerity.

What makes THE CURRENTS resonate is its honesty about fragility. It doesn’t treat Lina’s crisis as a spectacle but as a lived reality. The glamour of her career is contrasted against the quiet collapse within, reminding us that outward success often hides inward fractures. It’s a story about what happens when silence becomes unbearable, when impulses reveal truths we can’t admit out loud. And it’s a story that insists the audience sit with that discomfort, resisting the desire for easy catharsis.

Ultimately, THE CURRENTS is less about narrative payoff than about emotional immersion. It’s about watching someone unravel in real time, about understanding that the forces pulling her under are as invisible as they are relentless. For viewers on the same page, it is haunting, unsettling, and deeply human. For others, it may feel too restrained, too enigmatic. But that’s part of its strength—it’s not something you conquer. It’s something you survive.

Please visit https://linktr.ee/overlyhonestr for more reviews.

You can follow me on Letterboxd, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. My social media accounts can also be found on most platforms by searching for 'Overly Honest Reviews.'

I’m always happy to hear from my readers; please don't hesitate to say hello or send me any questions about movies.

[photo courtesy of ALINA FILM, RUDA CINE, LUXBOX]

DISCLAIMER:
At Overly Honest Movie Reviews, we value honesty and transparency. Occasionally, we receive complimentary items for review, including DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, Vinyl Records, Books, and more. We assure you that these arrangements do not influence our reviews, as we are committed to providing unbiased and sincere evaluations. We aim to help you make informed entertainment choices regardless of our relationship with distributors or producers.

Amazon Affiliate Links:
Additionally, this site contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may receive a commission. This affiliate arrangement does not affect our commitment to honest reviews and helps support our site. We appreciate your trust and support in navigating these links.