“It could even further complicate the discussion by proposing a completely imprudent hypothesis: that literature and art, in general, are intrinsically feminine.”
Esther (Karen Furlong), an 18-year-old from the North of Mexico, wakes up in Mexico City overwhelmed and alone. Wandering the city streets, she attempts to connect with strangers she meets. Arriving at the house of a mysterious woman, Esther finds a kindred spirit and a companion for the end of the world.
With Extinction of the Species (Extinción de la especie), Matthew Porterfield and Nicolasa Ruíz offer an abstract film about life and expectations.
Femininity
Extinction of the Species is above all an intellectual and abstract film. Viewed at first degree, it’s an a priori boring film. The two characters dance, wander or simply stand still.
The two highlights revolve around two dialogues between the two young women. The first is rather early in the film, and revolves around the femininity of the arts. “… literature and art, in general, are intrinsically feminine.Are they not born from intimacy with the night, the body, death, desire, sleep or madness?” Then Esther continues her reading and her long discourse on femininity and feminism.
The second highlight comes at the end of the film, when the two women talk about the end of the world, or rather, the ends of the world. I’ll come back to this later.
Let’s stay with femininity. The filmmakers have opted for a more modern femininity than we’re used to seeing. The girls aren’t dressed sexily, and don’t seem to exist simply through their relationship with seduction. What’s more, Esther doesn’t shave under her arms (though this isn’t shown as an issue). As for the other character, she has a slightly more androgynous look. And yet, both young women exude femininity. Just goes to show that the world of cinema is evolving too.
Several ends of the world
I was talking about an abstract film and several endings of the world. In fact, the first 20 minutes, in which almost nothing happens, serve to set the table for the final discussion in which the girls discuss these ends of the world. Why the plural? Because, according to them, the world dies and is reborn again and again. Hence the concept of the extinction title. In this conversation, the abstraction of our world is challenged in a surreal conversation.
In the end, we end up with a film that’s not for everyone. But a film that dares to push the questioning by mixing the physical and the metaphysical. If you’re a Mubi subscriber, I’d advise you to take a well-invested 25 minutes to watch this film that will take you out of your comfort zone.
