The principal themes of this short film are:
a) the human duality: how much people think about other people, awareness that there's always a reason behind things and that people are not what they seem;
b) the disparity of the class: a humble housekeeper in a huge and luxurious house with a rich lady who dominates and who gives an image of herself of luxury, elegance and opulence. They find a point of intersection in the purest values of a compassionate humanity, transcending every rule, every social status and every imposed distance.
A modest housekeeper keeps being bullied by an hysterical bourgeois for no apparent reason. Forced to endure these abuses in order to avoid being sent back to her country, she makes a discovery that will change everything.
This story can be a mirror in which the spectator can meet himself. He can meet himself in Ana, realizing that there’s always a reason behind things. Empathizing with Emily, however, the spectator can enjoy the experience of the "mask". Of the subtle difference between being and appearing. I would like that the spectator could understand the duality between the spirit and the social status, the abstract essence of someone in opposition to the concreteness of his identity. I wish this story allows anyone to get closer to the most general values of an humanity multifaceted that always gives the same answers to life.
The genre is drama. The goal of the story is to invite the viewers to enter into themselves becoming, in the process, moreaware of themselves as human beings. The empathy with these two characters does not allow for moments of humor, would ruin the reception of the message, making it more superficial, and not even moments of suspense. It is a drama, because the plot is about a disease, the difficult acceptance of the passage of time, and the power relationship between a housekeeper and her mistress, submission of one under the other, and the subsequent inner release from subjugation. Renaming a mistake.
The protagonist is Ana, the character in whom we see a real evolution, caused by a new awareness. Ana is the humble housekeeper at a despotic widow’s home. She handles everything with care, always respecting the rules with discretion, but without receiving the same treatment back. Ana can’t leave the job because she is in America illegally without a residence VISA. Without that job she would be forced to return home to Mexico, where she probably would not be able to reach the end of the week. This is a round character with multidimensional aspects. At first she seems completely naive and simple. Incapable of profound thoughts and rationalizations. It's the portrait of a good housekeeper who dreams of a life that she hasn't. After discovering that Emily is sick, Ana acquires a depth that hadn't emerged yet.
