‘Antonia’s Line’ Offers Quiet, Interesting Family Portrait

“Antonia’s Line,” which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, is a story of one strong woman and her descendants. With its strong feminist overtones, “Antonia’s Line” is the ultimate foreign chick-flick.

The film opens in the late 1940s with Antonia, a formidable and wiselooking woman, returning with her teen daughter to her ancestral village. They come to bury Antonia’s mother, but they end up buying a farm and staying.

Antonia shows her daughter all the eccentric characters of the town. One of these is Pitte, a towering, evil man who embodies the oppression of the women by the men of the village. Another is the philosophical friend of Antonia’s called Crooked Finger. Still another is Mad Madonna, a religious fanatic who howls woefully at the full moon.

Daniella, the daughter, becomes pregnant and bears Therese, a beautiful and prodigious child. Antonia begins a romance with the open-minded widower Farmer Bas, who brings his four sons with him to Antonia’s large outdoor dinner table.

They work together to bring in the harvest each year and to oppose whatever injustices they encounter.

One memorable scene takes place in a church where Daniella is pregnant out of wedlock. The subject of the sermon is the evil of loose women. Antonia and her family stand up and walk out, followed by Farmer Bas and his boys. Later, they catch the priest with a young girl, and force him to sing the praises of women in church.

The film ends when Antonia dies of old age, surrounded by her daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter and all the family she has adopted over the years.

And that’s about it.

My main complaint with “Antonia’s Line” is that not much happens. Moments of humor are provided by Daniella’s daydreams and young Therese’s mature pronouncements, and the characters are well developed. It’s particularly easy to be disgusted by Pitte, who eventually gets what’s coming to him.

But “Antonia’s Line” does not follow the conventional plot line we’re all used to.

This can be a strength or a weakness. Movies that offer little in the way of plot are often rich with exquisite scenery or poignant moments, and the lack of action only frees up the film to show more unstructured beauty.

“Antonia’s Line” does not take place in a gorgeous setting; in fact, the village can be pretty grim. “Antonia’s Line” is more like a family portrait, showing the talents of each woman in Antonia’s clan.

This does not make for an edge-of-your-seat viewing experience. The movie is simple and low-key; those who enjoy European films will probably like it. But if you’re looking for an interesting, entertaining summer blockbuster, head for “Mission: Impossible” instead.

Grade: B-