Watched this film time ago, and at the time like everyone else got confounded with the mish mash of imagery and bare bones plot.
However a recent viewing revealed some clear connections between the scenes and images in the film, bear with me, this isn´t a full fledged analysis but more of a series of observations.
First this is a deeply mexican film, it touches on some ideas that have been long discussed regarding Mexico´s status as a developing country and the mentality and behaviour of its people
in comparison with first world people/countries, hence the aparently disconnected rugby game and sauna sequences.
-The first scene with the little girl is more of a pure image rather than a idea: if you know Mexico you might notice that the warm and tender are right next to the raw and savage.
-The devil in the house is obviously an alusion to the personal demons of the characters, right next to this scene we see Juan brutally beating his dog, and going to a help group to confess his porn addiction, there he mets "Siete" (Seven)
an all around despicable individual on his supposed path to righting his life.
And from there we see the the warm-up to a rugby match in an English school, that is a group of kids in a first world institution are learning to channel and shape their aggression.
-The sauna sequence could very well be located in other place than Mexico, in it, we see a sort of orgy, that is, sexuality here is organized and ritualized.
Compare with Juan and "Siete" ´s afflictions.
Appropiately most of this happens in the countryside, nature untamed and all that.
These are some of the things that made me see the movie in a much more connected and coherent manner, the obvious signal with these movies is to see if the images and sequences we are seeing resonate and rebound between them and why and how, and that may be part of the Reygadas plan.
Review of Post Tenebras Lux
