‘Separación’ has a curious premise and an even more curious development. And intriguing, especially very intriguing, neat and harmonious throughout the nine episodes that it lasts, in a stylish and very personal work with the vocation and ambition of an instant religious cult title. It is not (or gives) for less. Can work performance be separated from personal life? ‘Separation’ takes this issue to the extreme, playing and having fun with it; especially, with her characters in a way that is as disconcerting as it is fascinating. In a way that may seem arbitrary and capricious, but with a clear intentionality that is not exempt from bad milk and black humor that gradually seep under its enigmatic appearance of calm and tranquility. Appearance is key to sustaining her intoxicating charm, like everything that surrounds her and gives meaning to her dazzling and stylized audiovisual rhetoric. ‘Separacin’ is like introducing ‘Black Mirror’ into the world of ‘The Office’ through the prism of ‘Mr. Robot’. A production that, like the 1st season of ‘Homecoming’, treats an intense paranoid thriller from the 70’s as if it were a science fiction story by Charlie Kaufman. But in addition to that ‘Separation’ is also a capitalist satire of Costa-Gavras that Alex Garland could have done. Two “authors” such as Ben Stiller may not be, although after the stupendous ‘Escape at Dannemora’ he is consecrated as something perhaps, perhaps, better: A stupendous director capable of making different proposals his own, endowing them with an entity and personality, adapting to each job without his pride being a hindrance. Like, for example, ‘Eleventh Station’, another choral series and cross stories far above what it may seem, it is possible that ‘Separation’ is not a series for everyone. Its intense and vibrant calm, its occasional visual extravagances, the absence of a roadmap “for dummies” or its hidden sense of humor, of totally informal seriousness, make it a rare bird that stands out for this very reason: Not knowing how to what to expect The series in fact makes a dent all the time in its elusive and enigmatic character that only increases the stimulating mystery of everything that surrounds it. It is, what has been said, as disconcerting as it is fascinating at the same time, in such a way that once you have entered you never want to leave. It is not (or gives) for less.
By Juan Pairet Iglesias
@Wanchopex
