Sandra M. Last Night
Director: Borja de la Vega
Cast: Claudia Traisac, Georgina Amorf3s, Nuria Prims
Year: 2023
Release: December 15, 2023
★★
Sandra Mozarowsky stands as a symbol of a volatile era in cinema history, often labeled as part of the so-called exposure cinema. The official account frames her life as sudden and tragic, ending at age 18 after a fatal fall from a family terrace when she was five months pregnant. The film reimagines those moments through a lens that blends fantasy and reality, offering a fictional reconstruction of the last hours of her life while deliberately leaving some questions unanswered.
The narrative centers on what could be true and what has become legend, probing whether her death was an accident, suicide, or murder. The storytelling purposely keeps many variables unresolved, signaling that some truths from that era were never fully revealed and may remain forever opaque. The early portion succeeds by anchoring viewers in intimate exchanges with Mozarowsky and her parents as they prepare for a weekend trip, and by revisiting a contemporary interview she gave to a glossy magazine. The tension is heightened by the pressure and noise of relentless phone harassment, a motif that underscores the vulnerability of a youngwoman navigating paparazzi scrutiny and public rumor.
As the film shifts toward its latter segments, it adopts a more surreal mood, trading linearity for a hallucinatory atmosphere. Claudia Traisac delivers a powerful portrayal of the actress grappling with depression and a fragile sense of self-worth, her scenes with a close friend—played by Inma de Santis—adding a layer of emotional texture to the portrait of a woman whose fame collided with personal instability.
Ultimately, the movie invites viewers to weigh the gaps between memory and myth. It treats Mozarowsky not only as a public figure but as a person whose private life became grist for a media machine. The ensemble performances, especially Traisac in the lead, anchor a story that is as much about rumor and perception as it is about a single, tragic moment. The film does not pretend to offer definitive answers; instead, it presents a portrait that invites reflection on how a life can be refracted through gossip, sensationalism, and the pressures of a culture obsessed with scandal.