Filmmaker Claudia Llosa (“Milk of Sorrow”) enters their deeply destabilizing realm, adapting “Fever Dream” and Argentine writer Samanta Schweblin’s 2014 novel of the same name. Lllosa’s sultryly shot film takes the story of a mother facing strange danger and casts a spell that feels like it has fallen into the character’s mind.
It’s almost embarrassing to detail the plot because the film expresses a complex emotional perspective without being tied to the genre mystery or the supernatural. Amanda (María Valverde) has just moved to a country house with her daughter Nina and is waiting for her husband to join them. He bonds with Carola (Dolores Fonzi), a restless local with the charms of an undiscovered movie star. However, Carola voices her concerns about her own child, David, which has morphed from maternal concerns to hints of evil.
Shot by Oscar Faura (“The Orphanage”) with an unnerving, sunny clarity that suggests something is wrong, the film has an unusual, disturbing voice-over. Appearing face down in a forest for the first time, we hear Amanda recount her memories, at David’s persistent encouragement. The boy, played by Emilio Vodanovich, comes across as infamous and evil in various ways.
What does David want Amanda to remember and why? The answer may involve the transfer of spirits, an unforeseen environmental threat, and a ritual involving a sick stallion. But it’s Llosa’s movie that reminds me of Robert Mulligan’The quiet pastoral cooler of 1972, “The Other,” evokes more than it explains. It’s like waking up in the grip of an image and an unshakable emotion.
fever dream
Rated R. Run time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Watch on Netflix.