Blue for a Boy (Azul de niño) may not quite hit all the right notes in all the right places. However, Raul Guardans’ debut feature is a darkly comic treat and a tantalising starter that will undoubtedly lead to a delightful main course in the years to come.
Natalia (Eva de Luis) has been married to Ernesto (Tony Corvillo) for many years, and her desire for a child has only increased over that time. However, Ernesto devotes all his energy to work and is often too tired to perform in the bedroom when he returns home. Deep down, Natalia knows this signifies that something is wrong at the heart of their marriage, but she loves him, and he loves her, right? Well, yes and no! As Raul Guardans’ debut feature film, Blue for a Boy (Azul de niño) opens, Natalia has recently discovered that Ernesto is having an affair, and she has also found the number of his paramour. Now armed with a large glass of wine and some smokes, she has invited this home wrecker to their apartment while Ernesto is once again working late, but when the doorbell rings and she slowly opens it, it’s not a long-legged young woman in a dress who greets her, but a young man in shorts and a crop top, Daniel (Raul Guardans).
To say this revelation takes Natalie aback is an understatement, and as she fires questions at the quiet but confident Daniel, one thing soon becomes clear: this isn’t your standard affair. Daniel is a part-time sex worker, and Ernesto paid for his company before love began to bloom between the two as time went on, a love that was conditional on Ernesto continuing with his marriage. Suddenly, it all becomes clear: the long working hours, the rejection of sex, and the secrecy.
Natalie plans to confront Ernesto when he returns home, her anger bubbling to the surface until the phone rings and the local hospital explains that Ernesto has had a stroke and is currently in the ICU. As Natalie’s world changes twice in one day, she rushes to Ernesto’s bedside, not knowing that Daniel is doing the same. But can a wife and a young male paramour find peace at the bedside of the man they both love?
A love letter to Pedro Almodóvar and François Ozon, there is much to love in Raul Guardans’ darkly comic tale of a man, his wife, his boyfriend, and a hospital ward where secrets are aired, long-suppressed emotions surface, and a complex web of love, regrets, and reality unravels. However, Blue for a Boy (Azul de niño) occasionally struggles to balance its darkly comic soap opera elements and its far deeper themes of identity, deception, and authenticity versus insincerity. As a result, Guardans’ film never quite manages to define its core message or fully embrace its comedic potential. That said, performances are delightful. Eva de Luis steals the show as the spikey, confident, yet fractured Natalia, a conflicted woman desperately searching for answers while tentatively accepting that the façade she has built no longer serves a purpose. Equally strong is Guardans’ performance as Daniel, a boy who believes he has found love but, in reality, remains alone: a male concubine who Ernesto loves but equally shuns in favour of his façade of heterosexuality.
While Blue for a Boy (Azul de niño) may not quite hit all the right notes in all the right places, Guardans’ debut feature is a darkly comic treat. As a first taste of the skill and talent Guardans brings as a writer and director, there is no doubt that Azul de niño is a tantalising starter that will undoubtedly lead to a delightful main course in the years to come.
Raul Guardans’ Blue for a Boy (Azul de niño) is screening at OUTshine Film Festival and awaiting a UK-wide release date.
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