Les mélotragédies d’Arturo Ripstein. Analyse de Así es la vida

Abstract

Así es la vida (Such is Life, 2000), made by Mexican director Arturo Ripstein can be defined, in many respects, as a reinvention. First of all because it is a filmic transposition of Medea, the Latin tragedy of Seneca. But the film-maker, as usual, also exercises his talents regarding the subversion of melodrama, in particular by borrowing some codes or elements peculiar to tragedy. In this contemporary melotragedy, Medea and Jason seem to have passed through the filter of Valle Inclán’s Esperpento, and find themselves, behind the concave mirror that Ripstein’s cameraconstitutes, thrown into a degraded universe, and confronted with the very commonplace situation of désamour (falling out of love).