Josefina In 'The Old Man Who Read Love Stories'

‘Although Josefina is central to the plot, she is never presented as a convincing character’. Do you agree?

Rolf de Heer’s ‘The Old Man Who Read Love Stories’ portrays the profound emotion through romantic literature, and the appreciation of life’s simple pleasures. Each and every character within the film differs from one another. Through the beliefs and values of the Shuar, to the way things get done with the European. Josefina, the films only female character, is a beautiful resident of the village despite being exploited by the Mayor as a prostitute. Josefina is without doubt central to the plot and is further presented as a convincing and influential character as the film progresses. Her sense of confidence and independence eventually
As she is the only major female character within the film, De heer portrays the innocence that is embedded within Josefina, a character that does not belong in the town of El Idilio nor with the presence of the injudicious Mayor and his regulations placed upon her. De heer not only portrays the innocence of this female character, but through the fundamentally kind-hearted man Antonio Bolivar. Despite his past, Antonio wishes to live a life full of happiness and joy, living without regrets and staying out of trouble. He accomplishes this by Josefina’s love of literature, which affects Antonio convincing him into reading these love stories. Antonio’s love for these stories deepens, as it does with Josefina, symbolizing the happy ending he wishes to spend with her as it ends in every book he reads, “It was a kiss of impassioned intensity. A kiss to remember their lives by”. De heer shows that the influence of Josefina has led to courage and confidence in Antonio, making him believe in opportunities and doing things he once thought he could never do, further presenting Josefina as a character convincing Antonio to believe and
While some use their past, others think of a happy future with someone they want to spend the rest of their life with, and this is what Antonio does. Antonio uses Josefina as a guide, a conscience, a love story, in order to take action so he can eventually fulfill and turn this flashback into presence and reality. His constant flashbacks of Josefina encourage Antonio and influence him of a happy life he has wanted to spend, one with no constraints or input from others, “It was the purest love without purpose other than love itself. Without tenure or jealousy”. Here, de Heer portrays that Josefina is particularly susceptible to being manipulated by Antonio’s own desires, that she is ultimately a character in Antonio’s love story. While Antonio’s thoughts, mutterings and viewpoints are consistently made known to us, we are not given similar access to Josefina’s thoughts. As a result, her motivations are often seem somewhat mysterious. However, de Heer shows that despite not sharing most of her thoughts, her character and actions herself is just as enriching as ones thoughts and opinions, “A man who reads love stories and admits it is less of a fool than a man who beats his wife thinking she loves it”. Here, Josefina complements Antonio’s gentleness and sensuality, while clearly sharing her hatred towards all forms of cruelty. De heer depicts that both Josefina and Antonio are able to understand one another,