Movie Review: Poetry, Sex and Mysticism in “Academy of Muses”

By Roger Costa

Intense and provocative, the new film by Jose Luis Guerin blends documentary, fiction and experimental as it follows the discussions and debates of a teacher, his wife and his gorgeous female students.

The philosophical teacher kicks off the continuous debate exploring topics of Dante, inspiring muses and the link between nature and desire; The discussion inspires all women in the classroom, including his own wife, who confronts him in search of the truth.

Shot as an educational experience, with enlightening angles seen through glasses/windows of tranquility, shades of water, natural lights, Guerin (whose films include the acclaimed “In the City of Silvia” and “Work In Progress”) observes the different reactions produced in each of the players involved, as well as the following consequences of fond memories on their love affairs, their romanticism and perspectives on art, men and women, marriage, sex, poetry, life, death and desires.

The result is constantly interesting, never losing its pace, or essence, completely supported by the powerful debates shared among these women, and their enthusiastic sense of wisdom.

At one point, the teacher takes a weekend off, to bring one of the students to meet a mystical place in Italy, as well as meeting up with a group of shepherds in Sardines, who developed through generations, a communication skill capable of listening and reproducing the sounds of nature, as well as creating their own soundtrack.

Insightful and melancholic, carrying a strangely surrealist beauty, Guerin allows the players to unveil themselves, and expose their differences on all the subjects the teacher brings up. A confront between the teacher’s wife and his closest student on a public place, is one of the film’s highest points, reaffirming the fragility and mystery of the human existence.

And as a student creates a new word, “ondando”, to express the solitude of her inner emotions, the film demonstrates observational control over the situations proposed by the women, analyzing their fears, insecurities, doubts and intimate desires, revealing their most private emotions.

THE ACADEMY OF MUSES (A Grasshopper Film Release. Runs from Friday, September 2nd thru Thursday, September 8th exclusively at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, NYC. Anthology is also presenting a retrospective of the director’s films throughout the week. Director Guerin will be in attendance for special Q&A’s; More Info and Tickets: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/)