‘A Widow's Game’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - A Laughable Affair

Carlos Sedes's A Widow's Game/La Viuda Negra is a cheesy porn film masquerading as a respectable drama. The porn is in the form of sexual content like skin show and cunnilingus. The tabloid-style filmmaking here also functions as a kind of porn, as it uses sensational techniques to stimulate the audience's senses. The film is based on the real-life murder case of a 36-year-old engineer, Antonio Navarro Cerdán, who was stabbed to death by his wife's lover/co-worker, Salvador Rodrigo Lapiedra. While watching this cinematic account of the incident, one wonders why the film was really made. It's as illuminating as a Wikipedia entry or a lurid article. The writers - there are too many writers - never really dig into the specifics and see the events from the outside. The film unfolds from the perspective of police officer Eva (Carmen Machi), the widow Maje (Ivana Baquero), and the lover/murderer Salva (Tristán Ulloa). Yet, there is little intimacy in these POV shifts. The relationships that these characters have with each other and their family members are largely left unexplored and reduced to a bunch of bullet points. For instance, it's suggested that Maje's husband, Arturo (Álex Gadea), is a penny-pincher and...probably bland? What was this marriage like before things got so bad? How is Arturo in bed? Why did she fall in love with him in the first place? We are told that Maje was brought up in a conservative, Jesus-loving household. Is sex, then, her means of gaining control and experiencing liberation? A Widow's Game only slightly winks at this notion. It's more interested in treating Maje as a woman of vast sexual appetite - a witch, a homewrecker.

That might be true, but it renders the film basic, simplistic, and mundane. There is nothing that challenges the audience. A Widow's Game is as insightful as a C-grade film dealing with a femme fatale who happens to be the product of the male gaze. People will watch A Widow's Game for nothing but sex; at one point, Maje even displays her naked derrière. Ulloa, though, is somewhat special. He paints a convincing picture of a loser who destroys himself for cheap carnal pleasures. You feel a bit sorry for his Salva - he looks pathetic when he cleans the floor for Maje. But all we learn about his personal life is that his marriage has become unstimulating and safe. Does Salva have any hobbies or interests? Since he and his wife work in the same field and at the same workplace, do they ever gossip about their colleagues or share professional notes with each other? Does Salva want his son to enter the medical field, or is he free to pursue any career of his choice? A Widow's Game has no answers. It merely sees its characters from a distance - it uses them as chess pieces. What's ridiculous, then, is that the film has the audacity to dedicate itself to a police officer (Eva's colleague in the movie) who died on the field due to a tragic incident. That officer is barely present here, and his scenes are as incuriously filmed as the whole film itself. A Widow's Game is a laughable affair.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times