‘The Follies’ Review: Powerful Performances Drive a Multilayered Tale of Women on the Edge (Netflix)

Across six stories, lightly (or not so lightly) connected to one another, Rodrigo García attempts to offer something like a panoramic survey of the lives of Mexican women from different generations today—women who, to quote another film with a similar thematic perspective, seem to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Featuring powerful performances from many of the finest Mexican actresses working today, Las locuras manages to move beyond a structure that occasionally feels somewhat theatrical, ultimately connecting with the intensity and tension that, for different reasons, define the lives of its protagonists.

The narrative thread linking all the stories is Renata, played by Cassandra Ciangherotti in a performance as convincing as it is devastating. Under house arrest for an incident that is gradually revealed, Renata stands out immediately for her intensity, her anxiety, and her constant, conspiratorial stream of words. It doesn’t take long to notice that she is bipolar or suffering from a similar condition, medicated and contained like a wild creature whose window bars turn her home into a cage. Her father—played by Chilean actor Alfredo Castro, wrestling charmingly with a tangle of accents—makes it clear that she is better off staying right where she is. And, to be fair, one might think he might have a point…

From that starting point, the other stories unfold. Naian González Norvind (New Order) is Penélope, who speaks to Renata from the street, puzzled by the woman’s behavior at the window, before heading to her job: administering the final moments to animals on the brink of death. The emotional toll of this work alongside her colleague (Raúl Briones) will weigh on her deeply, as will the grief of losing her beloved pet.

A third storyline follows Miranda (Ilse Salas), traveling in a taxi with her mother (Adriana Barraza) after the older woman has undergone surgery. This story will eventually intersect with Renata’s in a surprising way, as will a fourth narrative focused on her psychiatrist, Irlanda (Ángeles Cruz), a woman whose difficult past resurfaces during a painfully tense family gathering.

The next episode takes place in a theater-dance class where the situation gradually edges into what could be seen as abuse—or at least that’s how Soledad (Natalia Solián, from Oca), Renata’s sister, experiences it when forced to rehearse intimately with an overly uninhibited male partner. The final story brings us back to Renata, connecting her with Serena (Fernanda Castillo), a business woman who arrives to purchase the house where Renata is being held—only to come face to face with a woman who is mercurial, unpredictable, and astonishingly multifaceted.

Beyond its somewhat self-aware showcase of its leading actresses—the film seems proud of being exactly that—The Follies spans a broad emotional and experiential spectrum of contemporary womanhood, especially the kinds of behavior that lead (certain men) to assume, as the title hints, that women react emotionally—hormonally, even—rather than in a supposedly balanced, rational manner. This idea resurfaces several times throughout a film that explores these issues without lecturing or passing judgment.

Yes, there is intensity here, García seems to say, but it is the intensity that comes from confronting life directly, letting emotions and pressure overflow beyond the point of what might be considered appropriate. The protagonists respond to circumstances in ways that place them at risk—whether by becoming entangled in a sexually uncomfortable situation, collapsing in a dramatic moment, or telling their entire families to go to hell. Yet the film, in its way, celebrates something like their authenticity. In this sense, Renata—lucid, intelligent, and constantly on the edge—embodies this pursuit perfectly.