Fantasia 2024 Review: ‘Electrophilia’ is a Fascinating Yet Lacklustre Exploration of a Lightning Strike Survivor
Electrophilia, which had its North American premiere at Fantasia Festival, tells the story of Ada (Mariana Di Girolamo), a young veterinarian who wakes up from a coma after being struck by lightning five weeks prior. It happened during a storm at the dairy farm she works at, while she was helping a cow give birth to its calf. Upon waking, Ada feels different. She has white streaks in her dark hair and a Lichtenberg scar down her body, showing the path taken by electricity. She is also overly sensitive to noise, adverse to light, and has other symptoms such as headaches and dizziness. She hears a buzzing in her head and feels strange vibrations, which drives her to unplug anything electric when she gets home to the house she shares with her husband, Jano (Guillermo Pfening), and their dog — but it doesn’t help.
Ada struggles to fit back into her normal life. She begins to have hallucinations of electricity running through her veins and is both drawn to and fearful of electricity. Her dad (Osmar Núñez), who is also a doctor, wants her to take an antidepressant and a tranquiliser, but she refuses psychiatric medication due to childhood trauma surrounding her mother. Feeling alienated, Ada joins a support group for lightning strike survivors led by the mysterious and charismatic Juan (Germán Palacios), a doctor who has been struck by lightning himself. She feels much better there because they meet in a room with no electromagnetic fields, which gives them much needed reprieve. By conducting research on members of the group, in addition to himself, Juan has developed alternative treatments for the chronic symptoms that often plague lightning strike survivors. “Psychiatric drugs is the answer medicine has when they don’t know what to do with our symptoms,” he tells Ada. “Some people don’t respond to chemical treatment, but they respond to electrical.”
Soon enough, Ada and Juan begin an electrically charged affair when he introduces her to electroshock therapy to ease her symptoms. The shocks bring her both pleasure and pain, a post-orgasmic relief. The survivors are driven by a strong desire to feel electricity coursing through their bodies once again. Ada becomes sexually aroused by electricity and often shocks herself, while others go to more extreme and dangerous lengths to satiate their cravings. It’s hard not to compare Electrophilia to David Cronenberg’s 1996 erotic thriller, Crash, in which a car crash survivor finds a group of people who get off on simulating famous car crashes.
Directed by Lucía Puenzo, who co-wrote the film with Lorena Ventimiglia, Electrophilia never goes as hard as Crash. It’s restrained in its exploration of eroticism, possessing a more understated sensuality. The film is primarily a character study, focusing on how trauma changes a person, causing them to feel disconnected from their lives and other people, because no one understands unless they’ve had a similar experience themselves. It also touches upon the importance of community and the dangers of, uh… let’s say trauma bonding. Juan believes that “when you’re struck, your physical and mental structures are pulverised.” Ada, who was already depressed, has to begin life anew as she adjusts to her new self and is looking for anything to make her feel as alive as the lightning strike did in its conflicting near-death experience.
While Electrophilia has an engaging premise, it promises more than it actually delivers, allowing it to be both fascinating and lacklustre. Puenzo and Ventimiglia don’t explore the film’s themes in the amount of depth required, nor do they resolve a major plot point which should’ve impacted Ada’s relationship with Juan significantly. The film is a slow burn that begins well, but it doesn’t develop into a satisfying conclusion with any meaningful character development from Ada. It’s likely that these shortcomings were aiming to comment on the ongoing complexity of trauma which rarely, if ever, has a neat conclusion, especially not so soon. That said, the film has competent filmmaking, and is creative with its sound design and visual flares to reflect Ada’s chronic symptoms. Despite its disappointments, Electrophilia is still a decent watch and Di Girolamo is captivating as Ada.
