Elisa & Marcela

Elisa & Marcela (Elisa y Marcela) is a 2019 Spanish biographical romantic drama film directed by Isabel Coixet. Starring Natalia de Molina and Greta Fernández, the plot concerns the story of Elisa Sánchez Loriga and Marcela Gracia Ibeas, two women who posed as a heterosexual couple in order to marry in 1901 at Church of Saint George in A Coruña, becoming the first same-sex matrimony recorded in Spain.

Plot
A young woman travels to the house of Marcela in Chubut Province, Argentina. After a meal, Marcela begins to tell her story from 27 years ago.

The year was 1898. Marcela attended a Catholic school in A Coruña, where she met Elisa, an older student. The two formed a quick friendship.

The two girls spent a day frolicking on the beach, where Elisa said it was the happiest day in her life. Marcela's traditional father became increasingly suspicious of the two girls' relationships and sent Marcela off to boarding school, in Madrid. The distance didn't stop their relationship and they wrote letters during their time apart.

Three years later both of them were teachers at Cuoso, Galicia, where they began living together. The villagers however became suspicious and attacked Elisa.

They devised an escape plan. Elisa left for a few days, and returned dressed as a man, taking the identity of her deceased cousin Mario. In the meantime, Marcela got herself impregnated by local woodcutter Andrés.

Marcela and "Mario" were married by the local priest. The villagers began to see through the bluff and formed an angry mob to attack their house.

They escaped to Portugal where they worked odd jobs for a fare to Argentina. They were arrested and Marcela gave birth to a girl, Ana. The Spanish authorities wanted to extradite them, where they would face 10–20 years in jail. The sympathetic governor didn't want to do that and ordered the warden to let them go. Marcela refused to let Ana grow up facing discrimination for having gay parents, so she left Ana in the care of the warden and his wife.

Back to the present in Argentina, the young woman we now know as Ana, asked Marcela was it worth it. Marcela didn't answer, instead she went to greet Elisa who just returned home.

A postscript notes same-sex marriage was legalized in Spain in 2005.

Cast

 * Natalia de Molina as Elisa
 * Greta Fernández as Marcela
 * Sara Casasnovas as Ana
 * Tamar Novas as Andrés
 * María Pujalte as Marcela's mother
 * Francesc Orella as Marcela's father
 * Manolo Solo as the Warden
 * Lluís Homar as Governor Oporto

Production
The film was produced by Movies Production 2017 AIE, Zenit Televisión, Lanube Películas and Rodar y Rodar.

Release
Elisa & Marcela was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, where it screened on 13 February 2019. It was released on 24 May 2019, in selected theaters in Spain, and on 7 June 2019, by Netflix.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews from  critics, with an average rating of. The website's critics consensus reads: "While it may be visually attractive, Elisa & Marcela is an underwhelming melodrama that lacks passion and energy."

Jay Weissberg from Variety defined it "a dully made, frequently ridiculous eye-roller shot in standard issue black-and-white that gussies itself up as a brave clarion call for gay rights", while Lee Marshall from Screen considered Coixet's work "a conventional and predictably plotted period drama (...) [It] misses no opportunity to make forbidden love look as classy as a perfume ad." Clarence Tsui from The Hollywood Reporter acknowledged that "wanting to make a point, the filmmaker has delivered a piece devoid of the emotional nuances that made Brokeback Mountain or Carol, to cite two seminal same-sex love stories, such gripping and heartbreaking viewing."