Sexual harassment is about power. Spanish director Icíar Bollaín demonstrates this once again in The Nevenka Affairin theaters on November 6, 2024. The film is inspired by the drama experienced by the Spaniard Nevenka Fernández who will end up bringing a resounding lawsuit to her executioner, Ismael Alvarez, the mayor of Ponferrada, in Spain. This is the first case of political #MeToo in this country, recalls the film poster.
At the end of the 1990s, a great career looms for young Nevenka Fernández (Mireia Oriol) when she is contacted by the charismatic and popular Ismael Alvarez (Urko Olazabal), to join his municipal council. The 25-year-old young woman is appreciated by the councilor who ends up succumbing to the charm of his young recruit. Love at first sight is not mutual, but Nevenka gives in to Ismael who is very pressing. However, the young woman very quickly puts an end to their new relationship. This is the beginning of his ordeal. Filmmaker Icíar Bollaín reconstructs the trying journey of the young municipal councilor with images from the past that collide with those of the present.
A relentless mechanism falls on Nevenka when she decides to no longer do the four wishes of her ex-lover. He humiliates her in front of her colleagues, calls her “hysterical” – the term is dropped – even goes so far as to hit her with documents he is holding in his hand during a municipal council meeting.
Nevenka is cornered, but above all very alone. His parents, who do business with the town hall, turn a deaf ear. When she ends up admitting that she went out with Ismael Alvarez to her mother, the latter tells her that she had warned him: Ismael is “a womanizer”.
Icíar Bollaín signs a meticulous staging to show the evolution of Ismael’s words which becomes more and more violent towards Nevenka. She films the “non” of the young woman at pivotal moments in her story. On screen, we see Nevenka wasting away. The young woman’s gaze becomes haggard, fleeting: the camera focuses on her bodily attitude, on her hands which she fiddles with or when she tries to disappear in the middle of a room. She soon finds herself on the verge of madness, convinced that she has no chance of convincing others that she is being harassed by her powerful ex-lover.
The Spanish director illustrates, in small touches, the mechanisms put in place by the mayor, necessarily manipulative, but above all very aware of the influence he has over his victim. The actors Mireia Oriol and Urko Olazabal deliver their score with virtuosity when the Spanish filmmaker gradually makes perceptible the often unspeakable and indescribable mechanisms of a drama, which has become a textbook case. In Spain, this type of case is now taken seriously, unlike the experience of Nevenka Fernández. The sexism that the prosecution will demonstrate during the young woman’s trial cannot be tolerated in the country today.
“I am Nevenka”will end up proclaiming the young woman in front of her attacker, and in a certain way in front of society. To preserve its “dignity”, Nevenka Fernández will make her case public and take her to court so that she is not put on trial in court. “incompetence”. The consequences will be heavy for the young woman, forced into exile to return to a professional life.
The film dedicated to him by Icíar Bollaín is further proof of the need for a saving testimony. Like others, even today, the Spaniard spoke up to tell her truth and above all to fight back.
Genre : Drame, Biopic
Filmmaker:Iciar Bollaín
Distribution :Mireia Oriol and Urko Olazabal
Pays :Spain
Duration : 1h57
Sortie :November 6, 2024
Distributer : Epicentre Films
Synopsis : At the end of the 1990s, Nevenka Fernández, at the age of 25, was elected municipal councilor to the mayor of Ponferrada, the charismatic and popular Ismael Alvarez. This is the beginning of a descent into hell for Nevenka, manipulated and harassed for months by the mayor. To get out of it, she decides to denounce his actions and sue him. Inspired by real events, The Nevenka Affair reveals the first case of political #MeToo in Spain.
