Synopsis
To be old is to live with loneliness, with losses, with ghosts. It is to wait for time to pass. On the other hand, to be old may be to have fun with one’s ghosts, to indulge oneself in the blurred images of blindness, to feel young again with the freshness of a young woman discovering life, to dream of a possible reunion with an old love never forgotten nor revealed.
In "Aos olhos de Ernesto", the daily life of and old Uruguayan photographer shows these two ways to deal with old age. At first, a slow and painful wait for time to pass: the daily routines, the care of a cockatiel, the tedious visits from Javier, the conversations with the portraits that cover his walls, the eternal wait for a visit from his son and the increasing blindness, which he tries to disguise and thinks he can fool everyone.
However, from the meetings with Carlos, the reading sessions with Ana, and the correspondence with Lucía, Ernesto finds out that life can be enjoyed in old age as well. And that a love from the past can still be rediscovered (or revealed), even at age eighty.
In the film, the character’s increasing limitations will be explored as a way to play with the various forms of expression: the differences to express himself in written and spoken language through the exchange of letters and cassettes with Lucía; the photographs and photo-novels created with Ana; the literature read by Ana and Cristina; the dance moves in Carlos’ lessons seen as if through a glass blurred by his blindness.
Melancholy, lyricism and humor will be part of both the conduct of the drama and the composition of images and characters. The same melancholy, lyricism and humor present in Uruguayan works such as Leo Masliah’s music, Benedetti’s literature and Juan Pablo Rebella’s and Pablo Stoll’s films.
Aos olhos de Ernesto does lyrical and humorous reflection on old age.
A story that, somehow, is or will be part of everyone’s life.