In The City (En la Ciudad): Lesbian Movie Review

I want some sugar in by bowl

Nina Simone’s “I Want Some Sugar in My Bowl” permeates Cesc Gay’s film In the City (En la Ciudad). If you haven’t heard this song, find it, download it, buy it now! My fantasy is that one evening my wife will greet me at the front door lip syncing the sultry lyrics. Preferably wearing sequins, a boa, perhaps a…I digress.

Hidden Secret Desires

The song reflects the hidden desires, secrets, truths of the film’s main characters—an intimate group of thirty-something friends living in Barcelona after the millennium. The promo states, “It is the story of three friends, their men, their other men and their other women.” Hmmm.

Lesbian Lust

The characters consist of: Tomas, a professor, and Ana, his sixteen year old student lover; Sofia, a publicist deluded by love, and Eric, her married boyfriend; Sara, an actress who rehearses a bit too often with her newly divorced theater director, and Mario, her suspicious husband; Manu, a devoted husband who works long hours as an air traffic controller, and his stunning wife Irene, who is quite enamored by her former college friend, Sylvia.

The Big Lesbian Moment

The film’s resounding message is “Each one his will” and it is an interesting portrait of what the friends need, what they hide, what they choose to reveal and why as well as the ripple effect of their actions. One word of caution. If you blink, you may miss the BIG LESBIAN MOMENT (BLM), but thankfully there is rewind.

My Mother Likes Women, too

A number of the actresses were in My Mother Likes Women and it is great to see them light up the screen once again.

My review: 3 stars. Go rent it—even if only to glimpse the beauty that is Irene as well as the urban dream that is Barcelona.

In the city (“En la ciudad”)

Directed by Cesc Gay

110 Minutes

Spanish with English subtitles