Elisa & Marcela
エリサ&マルセラ
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
The first same-sex marriage in Spain, 1901, achieved by one woman passing as a man; in black and white.
In 1925, on the Argentine plains, a young woman arrives at an isolated house, and after a meal Marcela begins to tell her a story that starts in A Coruña in 1898.
At a convent school Marcela meets Elisa, a pupil two years older, and their friendship turns to love. Marcela's father, suspicious, sends her away to Madrid to train as a teacher, but the two keep writing. Three years later both are village schoolteachers in Galicia, and they move in together. The village notices. A woodcutter, Andrés, pesters Marcela; parents take their children out of the women's classes; and Elisa is ambushed in the woods and stoned.
They make a plan. Elisa goes away and returns dressed as a man, as her cousin Mario, who has recently drowned. While she is gone, Marcela sleeps with Andrés and becomes pregnant. In June 1901 the parish priest of Saint George's in A Coruña marries Marcela and "Mario". Marcela's parents come to inspect the groom, the villagers surround the house, and a doctor's examination exposes Elisa. Wanted by the police, the two women flee to Porto.
There they work, Marcela in a kitchen and Elisa, still as Mario, in a clothing workshop, saving for passage to Argentina, until the police arrest them. Returned to Spain, they would face ten to twenty years in prison. In jail, where other women rally round them, Marcela gives birth to a daughter, Ana. The governor of Porto refuses to hand them over and has them released. The prison warden and his wife, Flor, the prison nurse, have no children. Afraid of what Ana would face with two mothers, Marcela leaves her daughter with them and sails for Argentina with Elisa.
In 1925 the visitor is Ana. She asks Marcela whether it was worth it. Marcela does not answer; Elisa rides up to the house on horseback, as the two girls once dreamed of riding by the sea. A closing note says that Spain legalised same-sex marriage in 2005, and that Elisa and Marcela's marriage was never annulled.
Starring
Natalia de Molinaas Elisa
A village teacher in Galicia who, to marry the woman she loves, returns disguised as a man and goes to the altar.
Elisa’s story
Elisa meets Marcela at a convent school in A Coruña, where she is the older pupil, and calls a day they spend on the beach the happiest of her life. When Marcela is sent to Madrid, Elisa keeps writing. Three years later, village teachers in Galicia, they live together, and Elisa is ambushed in the woods and stoned. She leaves and comes back as a man, her drowned cousin Mario, and in June 1901 the parish priest marries them. A doctor's examination exposes her; they flee to Porto, where she works in a clothing workshop, still as Mario, until they are arrested. Freed, she sails for Argentina with Marcela. In 1925 she rides up to their house on horseback, as the two girls once dreamed of riding by the sea.
Greta Fernándezas Marcela
Elisa's younger schoolfriend and wife, who tells their story decades later in Argentina.
Marcela’s story
Marcela's father, suspicious of her friendship with Elisa, sends her away to Madrid, but the two keep writing, and three years later they share a house as village teachers in Galicia. A woodcutter, Andrés, will not leave her alone, and while Elisa is away preparing their plan, Marcela sleeps with him and becomes pregnant. She marries 'Mario' in June 1901, sees the village turn on them as her parents come to inspect the groom, and flees with Elisa to Porto, where she works in a kitchen. In prison she gives birth to a daughter, Ana. Released, and afraid of what Ana would face with two mothers, she leaves her with the warden and his wife, Flor, and sails for Argentina. In 1925 Ana asks whether it was worth it. She does not answer.
Sara Casasnovasas Ana
The young woman who travels to Marcela's house in 1925 to hear the story, and who turns out to be her daughter.
Tamar Novasas Andrés
A woodcutter in the village who pursues Marcela, and by whom she becomes pregnant.
Why it matters
Elisa & Marcela tells the true story of the first same-sex marriage recorded in Spain, made possible in 1901 only because one bride went to the altar as a man. The marriage was never annulled. Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain in 2005, and the film closes by noting that same-sex relationships are still criminalised in many countries, in some of them punishable by death. Isabel Coixet shot it in black and white and it competed at the Berlin festival in 2019, though many critics were unconvinced; one likened its forbidden love to a perfume advertisement. What stays is the price of the choice. To live together, the two women must lie, flee, go to prison and give up a daughter, and the film lets that daughter ask whether it was worth it, and leaves the answer to the silence that follows.