The Crazy Old Woman is the story of Laura and her mother, Alicia. Laura was traveling with her daughter, Elena, when her mother began calling her repeatedly. It seemed Alicia was having memory problems, so she kept asking Laura for the same prescription over and over. Laura was patient at first, but the constant calls left her overwhelmed and worried. She tried contacting Alicia's nurse, but her mother answered the call. She explained that the nurse had left after catching her trying to poison her food. Clearly, Alicia was paranoid, and Laura feared for her mother's health. Laura called her ex-husband, Pedro, to check on her mother. And, well, things soon took a dark turn.
Alicia was obsessed with César; she had mentioned him during her phone conversation with Laura, and even confused him with César. So, who was César? Was he real? Considering Alicia was delusional, it seemed that César was a character she had invented herself. She had mentioned that César was her first husband, although Laura had never heard of him. Her daughter, Elena, commented that Alicia had told her about César and that she was terrified of him.
Director: Martín Mauregui
Writer: Martín Mauregui
Stars: Carmen Maura, Daniel Hendler, Agustina Liendo
The girl described César as a man with a large nose and a mustache. Sometimes she saw him in her nightmares, and he would whisper, "Bite me" (something César used to say to Alicia). Laura didn't know what to make of the nightmares, but she realized that her mother was obsessed with César, and that it was possibly all in her imagination. She asked Pedro to go and check on his mother and make sure she had taken her medication. It was raining heavily that night, and Pedro accidentally ran over Alicia's dog as soon as he arrived.
He hid the body by a tree, hoping Alicia wouldn't find out. Alicia was busy preparing dessert; she had asked Laura for the recipe, but she had left it in the oven too long, and it was completely burnt. Alicia and Pedro sat down to dinner; at first, he didn't want to eat, but Alicia insisted. Pedro felt a little uneasy when he sensed his former mother-in-law flirting with him. He tried to convince Alicia to take her medication, but eventually discovered she had thrown away the blue pill she was supposed to swallow.
Alicia hit Pedro with a heavy object, knocking him unconscious. She tied him to a chair and waited for him to regain consciousness. Pedro realized Alicia had mistaken him for César, and although he initially tried to explain, he eventually gave up. Alicia hadn't taken the pill, so no matter how hard she tried, it was nearly impossible for her to see the truth. She wanted to believe her delusional thoughts, and unless Pedro cooperated, she couldn't escape. Pedro finally admitted he was César, and the situation only worsened. As the film progressed, one got the sense that perhaps César wasn't a figment of Alicia's imagination; perhaps he was real, and if so, his past was extremely shocking.
To say that Alicia and César's relationship was toxic is an understatement. They brought out the worst in each other; their love was destructive. Alicia showed Pedro the missing pinky and ring toes to remind him/her of the violent games they used to play. Alicia could never accept that César had left her after a tragic incident. He had realized they weren't right for each other, but years later, his heart yearned for her affection. They separated after torturing and killing their neighbor's five-year-old son. Alicia wanted to keep him, and César allowed it, but the boy didn't want to stay.
When the boy protested, César clamped his mouth so tightly that he suffocated and died. They buried his body in the backyard, and when their neighbor, Graciela, came home to take her son, César attacked her with a knife. From what Alicia suggested, they had buried Graciela as well. After the incident, Alicia and César broke up, but she continued to search for him.
During the finale of The Mad Old Woman, when Pedro fell into the basement after freeing himself, he discovered a portrait of César and several sketches of chained women, suggesting that Graciela and her son weren't his only victims. The sketches were likely of Alicia, but it's difficult to know for sure. In any case, it's clear that she, too, had been abused by the "worst man in the world." A portrait, obviously, isn't the absolute truth, and in this case, Alicia had developed a very violent and dark world in her mind involving being with a toxic man. But if it's true, then it's quite clear that medicine helped her cope with her violent past, and Laura only knew one version of her mother.
The fact that the portraits were hidden in the basement, locked and inaccessible unless someone lifted the wooden floorboards, indicates that perhaps there was some truth to Alicia and César's story. It was a past she chose to hide from the world, but she could never completely erase it from her mind. She had spent most of her life pretending none of it had happened, but her mind refused to let her live in peace. It repeatedly replayed the trauma, the pain, the pleasure, the contradiction, the hatred, and the murders. And all these thoughts gave her no rest.
Alicia had cut off Pedro's finger in a game of truth or dare to replicate the "good morning" she had spent with César. Pedro was exhausted, terrified, and in excruciating pain. He repeatedly begged Alicia to let him go; he even tried to act like César, but he wasn't entirely convincing. When a real estate agent came by to show the house to a potential client, Alicia managed to hide Pedro, and they left the house unaware that there was a dead body in the bedroom (the nurse's) and that a man was being held captive. For a moment, Alicia recognized Pedro, and even considered untying him, but then she saw his severed finger lying on the floor, and it reminded her of César. Once again, she convinced herself that the man she had held captive was César, not Pedro. She hated him for abandoning her and making her believe it was all her fault, but at the same time, she desperately craved his love. Toward the end, Alicia raped Pedro, and while he sat helplessly in the chair, she managed to untie his foot. She used it to grab the key to the lock lying nearby. She struggled to open it, and when she heard someone coming to the house, she felt hopeful. Pedro screamed for help, and Alicia gagged him.
It turned out that Laura had returned to check on her mother. She knew something was wrong, especially after the terrifying story her daughter had told her. Laura managed to get inside the house and removed Pedro's gag. Pedro begged her to let him go, and just as he was about to, Alicia walked in. She had a sharpened metal rod in her hand and mistook Laura for Graciela. She threatened to kill her, and while Laura tried to convince her mother, Alicia refused to acknowledge that the woman in front of her was her daughter. Although Laura managed to take the metal rod from her, Alicia stabbed her with a sharp knife. Laura fell to the floor, bleeding.
Just as Alice was about to hit Pedro, he finally managed to break free. He already had the key to the lock and successfully reached out to stop Alicia as she was about to stab him with the knife she had used to wound Laura. The wooden floor cracked under the pressure, and Pedro ended up in the cellar, which had clearly been abandoned for a long time. He got up from the chair and tried to find a way out, but there clearly wasn't one. It was then that he saw a portrait of a man, which he assumed was Caesar. Pedro managed to climb out of the cellar through the crack; he attacked Alicia and was about to kill her when Laura begged for mercy. But nothing could stop Alicia; she stabbed him in the groin and drove a metal rod through his head.
It was only after Laura repeatedly referred to Alicia as "mother" that she briefly regained her composure. She realized she had hurt people she shouldn't have and didn't know how to deal with the situation. Overwhelmed, Alicia ran out of her house, jumped into Laura's car, and sped away. The ending suggests that Alicia attacked Pedro and Laura because, in her mind, they were César and Graciela. César had traumatized her, and she never got over his absence, and she envied Graciela because she always thought César was attracted to her. Clearly, César had abused her sexually, physically, and emotionally, and their relationship had scarred her for life. This was her way of seeking revenge, but unfortunately, it was all in her head.
Alicia fled in Laura's car, and only after stopping at a traffic light did she notice Elena in the back seat. Elena asked Alicia where her mother was.
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