Europa Europa Film Fest 2025 Review - They Will Be Dust
Images courtesy of Common State.
“I have a lot to say, I just don’t want to.”
Director Carlos Marqués-Marcet latest film They Will be Dust stars acting veterans Ángela Molina (The Flowers of my Secret, 1995) and Alfredo Castro (Tony Manero, 2008) in a Spanish-language contemporary dance musical of a woman approaching her finality. The film delves into the sensitive topic of euthanasia, the ever popular topic for numerous VCE English oral presentations, though, unlike students, Marqués-Marcet is not constrained to five minutes to explore its moral, emotional, and philosophical dimensions. Instead he uses the 106 minutes to weave a song between life and death, a modern day macabre dance if you will, that doesn’t say anything particularly universal or sentimental, rather confronting the inevitable with unsettling honesty.
Molina shines as Claudia, a former actress diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, whose handling of her impending death begins to resemble her magnum opus. Meanwhile her entirely healthy husband, theatre director Flavio (Castro) plays the ever supportive, absolutely enamoured husband as he insists on following her to her death through joint euthanasia. They’re so passionately involved in themselves and the scenes they create that they don’t consider the impact this will have on the rest of their family.
The most unsettling moment comes when Claudia role-plays as a therapist assessing Flavio’s eligibility for euthanasia. In this twisted scenario, she suggests that his wife is merely pretending not to want him to die with her, subtly manipulating him into making that decision. Marqués-Marcet slyly chooses to reveal Claudia’s past as an actress only after this moment, thereby exposing her performative tendencies and the blurred lines between her real life and the roles she plays, inviting the audience to reconsider her intentions.
It was incredibly refreshing to see a female character portrayed in such a grey light, where her complexities and imperfections are fully embraced rather than idealised into a stagnant moral archetype. Claudia isn’t painted as a flawless martyr, a portrayal all too common due to our romanticising habit of eulogising the dead (or soon to be). Instead she’s portrayed as a multifaceted woman, with all of her shortcomings, doing what she can to cope with her approaching death.
While marketed as a musical, the film utilises its musical aspects sparingly yet ever so effectively. For Claudia, these moments allow her to express her raw emotions, breaking from the controlled persona she maintains with her family. Subversively, it’s during these over-the-top sequences that she’s most vulnerable. Marqués-Marcet’s style shines in these moments, with a particularly striking opening where Claudia dances with paramedics, her family completely out of step, setting up the disconnect between her inner world and their reality which will form the basis of the film.
Marqués-Marcet’s incorporation of Hans Baldung’s Death and the Maiden paintings as a motif for the three-act chapter cards was beautifully executed, adding depth to the film’s themes. This is further emphasised by a stunning set design and the rich use of autumnal colours, creating a visual feast that delights the viewer's senses
So if you’re into making a mockery of death, ethereal dancing, classical art allegories, and ‘tacky’ playlists then They Will be Dust is the film for you.
4.5 out of 5 secret dentures.
They Will Be Dust is screening as part of the 2025 Europa Europa Film Festival, which runs from February 12th to March 12th. For tickets and more info, click here.