Watch Desire
- 2017
- 1 hr 30 min
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4.0 (1,803)
Set against the evocative backdrop of 1970s Argentina, Desire is a provocative romantic drama exploring the complicated relationship between two estranged sisters whose lives become entangled in a dangerous web of attraction, jealousy, and forbidden passion. Directed by Diego Kaplan and starring Carolina Ardohain, Mónica Antonópulos, and Guilherme Winter, this visually striking film examines the powerful forces of sexuality, family rivalry, and emotional obsession, revealing how the desires people attempt to suppress can sometimes prove impossible to escape.
Lucía (Mónica Antonópulos) and Ofelia (Carolina Ardohain) have never enjoyed an easy relationship. Although bound together by family, the two sisters have grown into very different women, shaped by contrasting personalities, attitudes toward intimacy, and experiences of love. Their childhood connection has been complicated by an undercurrent of rivalry and emotional dependence, leaving wounds that neither has been willing or able to heal. After seven years without speaking, the sisters are finally brought together again on the occasion of Lucía's wedding.
Hoping to put an end to the longstanding estrangement, their mother, Carmen (Andrea Frigerio), arranges for Ofelia to attend the celebration. Lucía is preparing to marry Juan (Juan Sorini), the man she has been with for several years, and the wedding seems to offer an ideal opportunity for the family to reconcile. Ofelia arrives accompanied by her own partner, Andrés (Guilherme Winter), with whom she has been living an unconventional and secluded existence in the Amazon rainforest. Her arrival introduces an unpredictable element into what should be a joyful family gathering.
The reunion, however, quickly reveals that the emotional distance between the sisters has done little to resolve their underlying tensions. Lucía is confident, controlled, and accustomed to maintaining authority over her surroundings. Ofelia, by contrast, has developed a more uninhibited and instinctive approach to life. Where Lucía values security, appearances, and the boundaries of conventional relationships, Ofelia embraces her sensuality and independence with considerably less hesitation. Their differences have always been a source of fascination and resentment, and their reunion brings those complicated feelings back to the surface.
The situation becomes even more complicated when Ofelia meets Juan. An immediate and unsettling attraction develops between them, creating a tension that neither can easily dismiss. What begins as an uncomfortable awareness gradually becomes an increasingly powerful emotional and physical temptation. For Lucía, the possibility that her sister might become involved with the man she is about to marry threatens not only her relationship but also the carefully maintained sense of control she has established over her life.
The presence of Andrés adds another dimension to the unfolding drama. Although he and Ofelia share a relationship built around a different set of expectations and freedoms, the arrival of the newly reunited family forces everyone to reconsider the nature of their attachments. As the two couples spend time together, old resentments and unspoken feelings begin to emerge, revealing that the sisters' rivalry is far more complicated than either would like to acknowledge.
Much of the story unfolds during an extended stay at a beautiful family residence known as La Soñada, where the couples find themselves sharing an intimate domestic environment. Removed from the distractions of ordinary life, the characters are left with little opportunity to escape one another or ignore the tensions developing between them. The house becomes a setting in which private fantasies, emotional insecurities, and longstanding family conflicts gradually become impossible to conceal.
At the center of Desire is the unusual psychological bond between Lucía and Ofelia. Their relationship is defined not simply by sibling rivalry but by a deeper fascination with one another, particularly where love, sexuality, and personal identity are concerned. Each sister seems to represent something the other both desires and resents. Their contrasting approaches to intimacy have shaped their relationship since childhood, creating a complicated mixture of admiration, envy, dependence, and competition. As the boundaries between their individual desires become increasingly blurred, the question of who truly controls their own emotions becomes central to the drama.
Director Diego Kaplan brings a deliberately stylized visual approach to the material, recreating the atmosphere of the 1970s through distinctive costumes, elaborate settings, and an evocative sense of period style. The film combines elements of romantic drama, psychological thriller, and erotic cinema, using its carefully constructed visual world to heighten the emotional intensity of the story. Its exploration of desire is both sensual and unsettling, emphasizing the tension between social expectations and the impulses that individuals struggle to understand or control.
Featuring performances by Carolina Ardohain, Mónica Antonópulos, Guilherme Winter, Juan Sorini, and Andrea Frigerio, Desire is a provocative examination of family relationships and the complicated nature of human attraction. Beneath its passionate encounters and melodramatic tensions lies a story about two sisters whose shared history has shaped their identities in ways neither fully understands. Exploring jealousy, obsession, forbidden love, and the fragile boundaries separating affection from rivalry, the film offers an intimate and unconventional portrait of desire and the emotional consequences of pursuing what the heart wants.
Desire is a 2017 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 30 minutes. It has received mostly poor reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 4.0.