You Burn Me Image

You Burn Me

By Bradley Gibson | March 6, 2025

Argentinian director-writer Matías Piñeiro presents a one-hour rumination on despair, unrequited love, and death in his film You Burn Me (Tú me abrasas). The title is pulled from the works of the poet Sappho.

You Burn Me is an experimental adaptation of Sea Foam, a chapter in prominent Italian poet Cesare Pavese’s book Dialogues with Leucò. This film translates a dialogue between Sappho, who is said to have jumped into the sea in a fit of heartbreak, and the goddess Britomartis, who also hurled herself into the water to escape a man. Counterpoint reasons drove the same response, and each of those emotional states is considered. The poem explores the obsession to possess and desperation to escape. Desire, in each case, explodes into action.

The film opens with a description of Pavese’s suicide in 1950 in the Hotel Roma in Turin, Italy, while showing hallways in the hotel. It was just after the end of a failed affair with actress Constance Dowling, and that loss, combined with disappointment in the politics of Italy, led him to suicide by overdose. He made a deliberate exit from life, orchestrated in an appropriately poetic manner. He had a copy of Dialogues with Leucò with him when he died.

“…a one-hour rumination on despair, unrequited love, and death …”

The film is as much a visual poem as the text of the chapter of Pavese that it presents. The work is less of a standard cinematic narrative and more of a meditation in layers of visuals, spoken word, and narrative overlays. The two correspondents in the conversation are presented by Gabi Saidón (Sappho) and María Villar (Britomartis), with narration by Agustina Muñoz. Grainy images appear in a square aspect ratio, and the characters rarely interact directly. Frequently, the shots are repeated, drawing attention to the sea and life around the city. We are shown the actors reading and exploring the book. One of the basic tenets of film-making is to show, not tell. You Burn Me wanders outside that guideline by making a show of telling, which is as interestingly meta as Piñeiro’s approach of juxtaposing the interaction of Sappho and Britomartis onto a modern-day tableau.

You Burn Me (2024)

Directed and Written: Matías Piñeiro

Starring: Gabi Saidón, María Villar, Agustina Muñoz, etc.

Movie score: 7/10

You Burn Me Image

"…an experimental, interestingly meta show of telling"

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