In its 1960s peak, the Hagsploitation (or psycho-biddy) sub-genre gave a second act to classic Hollywood stars like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, who found themselves cast as aging psychopaths. It wasn't without controversy, drawing accusations of ageism and misogyny from critics. It's a surprise that our current age of sensitivity has seen a mini-revival of the form with movies like X and The Visit using senility as a cheap, albeit effective way to explain their villains' actions.
A little more thought has gone into writer/director Martín Mauregui's psycho-biddy thriller Crazy Old Lady. His film features a senile antagonist but has something to say about how memories we purposely attempt to supress can surface in the dementia of our dotage. Like so many recent South American movies, Crazy Old Lady is also concerned with exhuming the continent's dark past under the military dictatorships of the late 20th century.
Spanish screen legend Carmen Maura is the latest aging star to take the spotlight in a Hagsploitation thriller. She plays Alicia, an octogenarian who worries her daughter Laura when she makes three phone calls in a row asking for the same recipe. With Laura hundreds of miles away from her mother, she reluctantly calls in a favour from her ex-boyfriend Pedro (Daniel Hendler), who agrees to spend the night with Alicia until Laura can arrive in the morning.
When Pedro arrives, accidentally running over Alicia's dog in the process, he finds the old biddy is well and truly off her meds. She has mentally regressed to her teen years and mistakes Pedro for Cesar, a mysterious man she was once in love with, though Laura claims she has never heard his name mentioned before. When Pedro is caught off guard and knocked out cold by Alicia, he awakes to find himself chained up in a chair.
The largely two-hander drama that follows is something of a riff on Death and the Maiden, as Alicia is convinced that Pedro is Cesar, who it turns out wasn't simply a lover but an abusive and malign presence in Alicia's youth. The key difference here is that we know Pedro isn't actually Cesar. Or is he? There is a slightly sinister undertone to Hendler's performance that suggests he may not simply be a hapless, still-smitten ex gladly doing a favour for a lover he hasn't gotten over. But the movie never delves into this, so maybe it's simply a case of miscasting Hendler. Though he's clearly the victim here, we never quite find ourselves fully in Pedro's corner. I'm not sure exactly why, but having him kill a dog in his introduction may have something to do with it.
While Alicia is the nominal villain, she is herself a victim, both of dementia and of past abuses at the hands of Cesar. It's hinted that the latter was an ally of the military junta who used his power and the backdrop of Argentina's many politically motivated disappearances to carry out a series of violent crimes. In a cruel trick of the failing mind, Alicia can't remember a recipe she was told two minutes ago but is still haunted by a past she has kept secret for decades. It's a detail that may go over the heads of some international viewers, but Argentinian audiences, particularly those of Alicia's generation, will no doubt be affected by this theme.
Take away the political allegory and Crazy Old Lady is a bare bones thriller that never quite gets under our skin. The tone veers from initially comedic to something much darker in a fashion that catches us off guard, and it's difficult to tell at times if the film wants us to laugh with or at Alicia.
Things are unnecessarily complicated by the inclusion of a scene that sees Alicia's young granddaughter (Emma Cetrángolo) recount a dream in which Cesar made a horrific appearance. The implication is that Cesar might be an Argentinian Freddy Krueger, but this idea is never further explored. Crazy Old Lady is a fine showcase for Maura's talents, but its obtuse storytelling ultimately proves frustrating. An ambiguous anti-climax will leave viewers scratching their heads.
Crazy Old Lady is on Shudder
