Jezabel
Directed by Hernán Jabes
Written by Hernán Jabes and Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles
Starring Gabriel Agüero, Eliane Chipia, Johanna Juliethe
Rating N/A
Runtime 108 minutes
Premiered on VOD & Digital Platforms November 7, 2023

by Tori Potenza, Staff Writer

Content Warnings: Physical Abuse, Depictions of attempted suicide, drug and alcohol abuse

Perhaps one of the strangest things to come to terms with as an adult is how subjective and fickle our memory can be. We can rewrite our stories and deceive ourselves without even realizing it. This is especially true when it comes to looking back on our youth. We romanticize and look back with rose tinted glasses, and this recollection helps us get through the more daunting and disenchanting aspects of adulthood. This is the realm in which Hernán Jabes’s film Jezabel lives. By looking back at the lives of four affluent young people in Venezuela, Jabes explores the frailty of memory, class struggles, and masculinity.

Jezabel follows Alain (Gabriel Agüero), a troubled man disinterested in life. A budding romance with Salvador (Erich Wildpret), a journalist, brings about memories of Alain’s youth, his close knit group of friends, and the murder that drove them apart. As the two delve into Alain’s past, he opens about Loló, Cacá, and Eli–his best friends who had a deep physical bond fueled by drugs, parties, and their care-free upper-class lifestyle. Alain must confront the tragic murder of Eli and the fall out from the criminal trial that followed.

Jezabel is a layered and complex story that goes places you will not expect and leaves you rattled and shocked by the end. While there are some important content aspects to be mindful of, it is a film that one should go in not knowing much about. What starts off as a recollection of sex, parties, and other joys of youth ultimately blossoms into something much darker than you expect. Part of the thrill of watching this was seeing how the film goes about revealing and doling out information throughout the story, weaving in more and more layers as it goes.

With the recent releases of films like Jezabel along with Neon’s Sanctuary and a new UK feature Femme, erotic thrillers are having a resurgence. However, unlike the erotic thrillers of the ‘90s–stained with their problematic politics and sexist depictions of women–the thrillers we are getting now are much more thoughtful and have a social and emotional depth. While Jezabel has plenty of thrills and exquisitely shot sex scenes, it does not shy away from the important social and political messaging woven throughout. In the backdrop of pleasure is the turbulent and violent political situation in Venezuela along with important themes of gender, power, and privilege. At times, this unflinching scrutiny makes it hard to watch but equally hard to look away from.

Much of this is driven by the incredible writing from both Hernán Jabes and Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles. They craft a story that holds an array of complicated issues and human emotions, which allows for viewers to move through a range of conflicting feelings. At times, we forget how important it is to acknowledge all of our seedy shameful emotions and attempt to cherry pick the best ones. So it is important for mediums like this to remind us how confusing and bewildering the human experience is. Good, bad, and everything in the middle can hold space at the same time. For writers to bring out and acknowledge so much feeling is astounding and something we need much more of in cinema.

Alongside the impeccable writing is a cast of amazing performers who have to emulate all of these entangled emotions. Gabriel Agüero brings so much to Alain, and it is amazing to see all of the facets of his personality as the film progresses. Erich Wildpret does a fantastic job as the journalist who gives space for Alain’s journey but also has to grapple with his romantic feelings for him as they excavate the past. While all of the women do a wonderful job highlighting the angst and emotions of teenage life, Johanna Juliethe’s performance as Loló should be mentioned, especially in regards to the powerful performance she gives in a particularly difficult scene later in the film.

Movies like Jezabel feel like such a gift in a world that has so many big North American blockbusters that barely scratch the surface of human emotion. These movies often make us feel as if we are being spoon fed simplistic feelings that only make the experience of being a person more baffling. To see something like this that does not shy away from what is difficult or hard to explain is a breath of fresh air. As humans starved for nostalgia and the picturesque version of our personal or collective past, this film serves as a reminder that it is easy to gloss over the truth in an attempt to escape from our messy lives.