Through My Window Review

Based on the book by Ariana Godoy, Marçal Forés’ romantic drama takes a fair shot at a complicated teenage love story. What makes Through My Window watchable is its true-to-life narrative. It portrays the awkward, sexually charged romance between Raquel (Clara Galle) and Ares (Julio Peña) in all its human failing glory, and does so in a believable manner.

The messy feelings of the young teenage heart aren’t easy to explain, let alone capture. The strength of this Spanish film lies in the fact that one can identify with it. Even though they are neighbor's, Raquel and Ares belong to two vastly different worlds. The former is a regular middle-class high school kid who has aspirations to be a writer like her late father. The latter comes from the privileged Hidalgo business family. Raquel has harboured a crush on Ares for quite a while, going to the extent of gathering any information she can find on him. Ares is very aware of this infatuation and hacks into her Wi-Fi network as a ruse to strike up a conversation. The hacking of this Wi-Fi password is at the center of the attraction storm that is to follow between the two.

In spite of the characters’ relatively young ages, the writer succeeds in detailing an underlying complexity to both their personas. Galle’s standout performance infuses in Raquel a questioning ability beyond her years. Her writerly mind tells her not to get involved with her neighbour, and that he is bad news, but her attraction cannot be kept in check. The young actress portrays this complicated place one often finds themselves in exceptionally well. Though Peña isn’t as effective, Ares’ reluctance to admit his true feelings (beyond the physical) is presented adequately.

Through My Window, at its core, is based on a simple premise. Two teens fall hard for one another. It starts off bordering on the obsessive and gets real very quickly after that. While one of them isn’t afraid to confront the full extent of her feelings, the other gets cold and distant after physical intimacy (making it look like the whole business is nothing but a fling). Ares tries hard to convince himself that Raquel is just another one of his long line of conquests. When that fails, he tries buying into his family’s idea of things; he is being groomed to take over the business with his brothers after studying at Stanford, there’s no time to get involved in the messy business of love, and so on. His cold father doesn’t mince his words when he says to Ares, “Sleep with as many women as you like, but don’t get involved with her.”

Ares is torn between his reputation of being a carefree teen playboy and his undeniable affection for the girl next door. Whereas Raquel documents her on/off situation with Ares into a journal, creating an engaging narrative. And yet, at writing class, she never once volunteers to read out from her work. The fear and conflict experienced internally forms the crux of the story. Through My Window is charged with much sexual tension, and the filmmakers do not shy away from presenting its leads engaging in graphic physical scenes.

Unlike many other teenage romantic dramas, it doesn’t build into this crescendo of blissful fantasy, as the concerned characters share their first unforgettable kiss as the end nears (or something along those lines). In that regard, the film is raw and real. Just because the lead characters have had sex multiple times, doesn’t by any means suggest that there’s a happily-ever-after on the horizon. The complexity of emotions on display mirrors that of an adult crowd and their complicated brush with the L word.

Maybe the makers could have toned down the explicit scenes a tad bit, but that’s only a minor criticism. The film may not be in the same league as a Call Me By Your Name, for instance, but it certainly places high up on the scale of teenage love stories. The writing and acting are on point, providing the narrative with maturity, which is way beyond the years of its young cast. That it doesn’t go down the oft-beaten path is also one of its hallmarks. Even though it isn’t masterpiece material, it is a good film that has the ability to make you buy into love as a concept while not shying away from all the complexity that emotion brings.